Responding to the growing consensus among researchers and educators that prevention of learning problems makes more sense than remediation, this book presents essays that suggest ways to improve literacy instruction for all children, particularly those who are at risk. Essays in the book discuss practical matters such as funding, curriculum, assessment, and present numerous case studies of effective programs. After an introduction ("Literacy Lessons in the Elementary Schools: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" by Richard L. Allington), chapters in the book are: (1) "Redefining and Reforming Instructional Support Programs for At-Risk Students" (Sean A. Walmsley and Richard L. Allington); (2) "Flunking: Throwing Good Money after Bad" (Richard L. Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen); (3)"Estimating Cost-Effectiveness and Educational Outcomes: Retention, Remediation, Special Education, and Early Intervention" (Philip C. Dyer and Ronald Binkney); (4) "Portfolios in the Classroom: What Happens When Teachers and Students Negotiate Assessment?" (Laura P. Stowell and Robert J. Tierney); (5) "Literacy Partnerships for Change with 'At-Risk' Kindergartners" (Lesley Mandel Morrow and Ellen M. O'Connor); (6) "Reducing Retention and Learning Disability Placement through Reading Recovery: An Educationally Sound, Cost-Effective Choice" (Carol A. Lyons and Joetta Beaver); (7) "Eliminating Ability Grouping and Reducing Failure in the Primary Grades" (Dorothy P. Hall and others); (8) "First Grade Teachers Provide Early Reading Intervention in the Classroom" (Barbara Taylor and others); (9) "Scoring Well on Tests or Becoming Genuinely Literate: Rethinking Remediation in a Small Rural School" (Trudy P. Walp and Sean A. Walmsley); (10) "Improving Early Literacy: Vermont Stories of Educational Change from the Bottom Up and the Top Down" (Susan Carey Biggam and others); (11) "Change in Urban Schools with High Concentrations of Low-Income Children: Chapter I Schoolwide Projects" (Linda F. Winfield); and (12) "The Implementation of the Accelerated School Model in an Urban Elementary School" (Stephanie L. Knight and Jane A. Stallings). An afterword ("No Quick Fix: Where Do We Go from Here?" by Richard L. Allington and Sean A. Walmsley) concludes the book. (RS)