In this article, the author examines the troubled history of the relationship between research and practice in the area of early reading instruction. He describes how researchers have historically addressed controversies about reading instruction and explains why good research seems to have a delayed and limited impact on reading policy and practice. Then, he presents lessons learned about the influence of scholarship on reading policy. He concludes this article by offering ideas for accelerating the communication of research to practitioners and empowering teachers to establish norms of excellent practice. (Contains 18 endnotes.)