The purpose of this study was to provide data about the effects of early literacy instructional methods on later elementary reading performance. This study compared students who were introduced to reading through a synthetic phonics approach in contrast to students who were introduced to reading through an analytic phonics approach. Quantitative data were collected from a variety of standardized tests for the two groups, and qualitative data were collected through interviews with a variety of stakeholders. The literature review offers an overview of major trends in phonics and early reading instruction over the entire history of documented reading education. After examining the dramatic shifts between whole language and explicit phonics instruction, the focus was narrowed to two specific types of explicit phonics instruction: analytic and synthetic. The quantitative data were compared by looking at Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) results as well as Comprehensive Testing Program (CTP) results in the areas of reading comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling. All test scores were collected from fourth and fifth graders who had an analytic phonics education in early elementary and compared with test scores from fourth and fifth graders who had a synthetic phonics education in early elementary. Additionally, interviews were conducted with teachers, administrators, and parents who had experience with both groups of students. The researcher then conducted a content analysis to identify themes from these interviews. The researcher discusses the relative benefits and downsides to each phonics approach in an effort to inform curricular decisions in schools similar to this one. Overall, students who were taught using analytic phonics scored better on the CTP, but students who were taught using synthetic phonics scored better on the DRA. Stakeholder perceptions were favorable towards the synthetic phonics group. Due to the mixed results and other mitigating factors discussed in this study, more research is recommended to gather more data about these two early reading approaches in populations such as the school included in this study. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]