Intended to encourage the development of textbooks and related materials that are both worthy of being read and readable, this paper presents standards for high quality reading instruction materials for kindergarten through grade 8. Approved by the California State Board of Education, the standards are based on the premises that better reading materials will be characterized by a systematic presentation of high quality literary works, will be research based, and will demonstrate the point of view that acquisition of reading skills is not an end in itself, but the means for connecting the student to the wide world of reading. The major portion of the paper presents a set of student text standards covering content, style, structure, language development, vocabulary development, comprehension, decoding, evaluation, technological applications, and extended reading experiences. The remainder of the paper presents standards for student study materials, followed by those for teacher manuals. (HTH)