Similar findings after 27 coordinated studies compared methods and
materials in the largest beginning reading field experiment ever conducted led the
authors of the First Grade Studies (Bond & Dykstra, 1967) to conclude: “Children
learn to read by a variety of materials and methods. . . . No one approach is so
distinctly better in all situations and respects than the others that it should be
considered the one best method” (p. 75).
