Reading instruction has been the subject of significant controversy for more than five decades, and Kappan has allowed advocates of many different types of reading instruction to make their cases in the magazine's pages. Teresa Preston chronicles the history of the reading wars as they played out in Kappan. Researchers and scholars have debated…

Since thousands of the men who entered military service during World War II were illiterate, the Army developed an "Army Reader," a four-part series featuring Private Pete, that led learners through literacy levels 1-4. Part 1 introduced Private Pete and talked about the things the men experienced when they entered the Army. Part 2…