In 1953, Paul R. Hanna of Stanford University and one of his doctoral students, James T. Moore, published in the Elementary School Journal a report of their study of American-English orthography (1). The results of this study indicated that there is a much closer relationship between the sounds of spoken American English and their representation in writing than is usually supposed (2). Later, other researchers in spelling curriculum and instruction, and textbook publishers, critically examined the rationale and the findings of Hanna and Moore. Some accepted the findings. Others saw basic weaknesses in the