This report provides administrators and supervisors of reading programs with information to help them evaluate and select commercially developed reading materials. Part 1 opens with a description of the problems researchers studying the adoption of basal reading programs have observed and then offers suggestions (based on both research and experience) for the improvement of the adoption process. The importance of using reading materials other than the adopted programs is also discussed. The final section of Part 1 reviews the material used to teach reading in many middle and high schools. Part 2 contains a brief discussion of research on how teachers use reading materials in their classrooms and concludes with a section stressing the importance of staff training that has as its purpose the understanding and use of the new materials and other materials, and the importance of teacher decision-making. The report concludes with a set of guidelines for the selection and use of materials. (Forty-four references are attached.) (Author/RS)