This newsletter covers educational issues affecting schools in the Western Regional Educational Laboratory's 4-state region (Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah) and nationwide. The following articles appear in the Volume 4, Number 1 issue: (1) "The Roots of Reading"; (2) "Breaking the Code: Reading Literacy in K-3"; (3) "Improving Secondary School Reading through Strategic Literacy"; and (4) "Reid Lyon on Improving Students' Reading Ability." The first article discusses activities in daycare which are potential precursors to literacy, since a child's ability to read is guided by skill development that begins in infancy. The second article contends that teachers must know and understand the reading process and be able to recognize where each student is on the continuum. The third article considers some of the metacognitive strategies, such as "think aloud," which promote the understanding of texts rather than simply the memorizing of facts. The last article presents some of the findings of the National Reading Panel (NRP) which reviewed reading research literature. (NKA)