A guide for teachers selecting reading textbooks, this report brings together information about basal programs on the market and clarification of important issues in reading instruction. A general analysis of 20 basal programs includes a prose explication and a table comparing contents (skills), reading selections, methodology, assessment tests, and special features of programs. Major trends in reading research and development over the last 30 years are summarized in a historical overview. Two chapters discuss ongoing debates in phonics and comprehension teaching; implications for basal program selection are drawn from the argument between indirect (or synthetic) teaching and analytic teaching of phonics, and the approaches of six programs are compared. In the following chapter, teachers' editions of six representative programs are examined in light of Dolores Durkin's research on teaching reading comprehension skills. The next chapter outlines different positions on fundamental issues in reading instruction and offers a self-test to help selectors of texts to clarify their own positions. The final chapter incorporates a reading needs analysis checklist to enable schools to translate local needs into text selection requirements. (MJL)