University of Wisconsin Psychology Professor [Language and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab] Mark Seidenberg recently gave a lecture on reading education at the University Club:

Whole Language was a massive, uncontrolled experiment, with millions of children as unwitting subjects.
How it’s done: Someone gets an idea

• Often a Guru. Many Gurus in reading instruction.
• Guru has brilliant insight about how children learn, how to teach reading – Their own personal theory
• The idea may be personally promoted by the guru, with direct appeals to teachers
• The idea is implemented on a vast scale, based on intuitions that it is good.

860K PDF Version of the lecture.