This document is comprised of four consecutive issues (Winter 1998-Fall 1999) of a newsletter published quarterly to provide information on current research and practice to early childhood professionals teaching in the primary grades in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Montana. The winter 1998 issue focuses on retention in the early grades, reviewing research, and providing alternative strategies. The spring 1999 issue also addresses grade retention, asserting that a long trail of research indicates that retention is not the appropriate route to improve student achievement. This issue also contains a brief summary of literacy accomplishments that should be evident in third-graders. The summer 1999 issue discusses myths of literacy development and contains a reprint of an ERIC Digest on kindergarten entrance age. The fall 1999 issue covers effective first-grade teaching methods, including how to build strong readers and writers, how to assess school readiness, and literacy accomplishments that should be evident in first-graders. (EV)