ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the background, rationale, procedures, and findings of the original Expert Study. Considering the climate, then, it would be useful to situate the first publishing of the Expert Study data and other conflicts historically. Richard Vacca nevertheless went on to identify what he believed were the two rallying points that had emerged for reading professionals in the midst of all this. The first he cited was the findings of the Expert Study, which he asserted make clear that the field of reading is not as fractious as it has been reported in the media. The experts clearly did not endorse any particular approach. They instead developed and agreed on certain contexts and practices that they collectively believed would tend to facilitate reading, and others that they believed would tend to make reading more difficult for most children.
