The Texas Reading Initiative began in 1996 in response to Governor George W. Bush's challenge to all Texans to focus on the most basic of educational goals--teaching all children to read. This booklet describes important aspects of effective reading instruction, as well as elements of classroom and campus support for effective instruction. The booklet's purpose is to provide information that can be used to guide decisions as local school districts and educators worked toward the governor's stated goal "all students will read on grade level or higher by the end of the third grade and continue reading on or above grade level throughout their schooling." The first section of the booklet outlines and describes 12 essential components of research-based programs for beginning reading instruction: (1) expand their use and appreciation of oral language; (2) expand their use and appreciation of printed language; (3) hear good stories and informational books read aloud daily; (4) understand and manipulate the building blocks of spoken language; (5) learn about and manipulate the building blocks of written language; (6) learn the relationship between the sounds of spoken language and the letters of written language; (7) learn decoding strategies; (8) write and relate their writing to spelling and reading; (9) practice accurate and fluent reading in decodable stories; (10) read and comprehend a wide assortment of books and other texts; (11) develop and comprehend new vocabulary through wide reading and direct vocabulary instruction; and (12) learn and apply comprehension strategies as they reflect upon and think critically about what they read. The second section describes eight features of classrooms and campuses that support effective beginning reading instruction. The last section considers eight essential elements for adopting instruction to facilitate beginning reading success for children with special needs. (Contains 71 references and 26 "adaptations" references.) (NKA)