The primary purpose of this paper on reading instruction is to inform teachers and parents of the superiority of phonics or code-based approaches over the whole-word method (still the dominant method in the United States). The first section deals with the nature of reading skills, the second section covers the history and present status of the reading problem in United States schools, and the third section contains four articles which discuss dyslexia, the initial teaching alphabet, reading achievement test scores, and remedial reading. An annotated list of effective phonics programs and an annotated bibliography conclude the paper. (JM)