The most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Because reading affects all other academic achievement and is associated with social, emotional, economic, and physical health, it has been the most researched aspect of human cognition. The fact that teachers need better preparation, professional development, and resources to carry out deliberate instruction in reading, spelling, and writing should prompt action rather than criticism. It should highlight the chronic gap between what teachers need and what they have been given. Just about all children can be taught to read and deserve no less from their teachers. Teachers, in turn, deserve no less than the knowledge, skills, and supported practice that will enable their teaching to succeed. This article is an excerpt of "Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science, 2020: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able to Do" (www.aft.org/sites/default/files/Moats.pdf), which emerged from a collaboration between the American Federation of Teachers and the Center for Development and Learning.