This book adresses the crucial and controversial questions that face today's reading scholars, educators, and professionals. Demonstrating the diverse, and often divisive, opinions that characterize the field, leading contributors - including Isabel L. Beck, Vivian L. Gadsden, Taffy E. Raphael, Jane Hansen, Peter Afflerbach, P. David Pearson, and Marylin Jager Adams - offer their insights and expertise on such issues as the phonics/whole language debate, the state of reading comprehension instruction, the validity of and need for standards and assessment, effective methods of teacher preparation, and family literacy. An invaluable resource for anyone concerned with literacy in the United States, Literacy for All also serves as a text for courses in reading methods and reading trends and issues.