THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DEVELOP, TRY OUT, AND EVALUATE THE EFFECTS OF BEGINNING READING METHODS FOR FIRST-GRADE CHILDREN WHOSE SCORE FELL BELOW THE 60TH PERCENTILE ON THE METROPOLITAN READINESS TEST. SEVEN METHODS FOR TEACHING BEGINNING READING WERE SELECTED FOR INVESTIGATION--(1) LANGUAGE APPROACH, INVOLVING READING, WRITING, LISTENING, AND SPEAKING, (2) LETTER-SOUND APPROACH, (3) LITERATURE APPROACH, USING EASY-TO-READ BOOKS, (4) SKILLS DEVELOPMENT APPROACH, AND (5,6, AND 7) COMBINATIONS OF THE LANGUAGE APPROACH WITH METHODS (2), (3), AND (4). APPROXIMATELY SEVEN CLASSROOMS PER METHOD, WITH AN AVERAGE OF EIGHT PUPILS IN EACH LOW READING GROUP, WERE INVOLVED IN THE STUDY. DATA WERE GATHERED FOR THE SUBJECTS ON VARIOUS APTITUDE, ACHIEVEMENT, AND INTELLIGENCE TESTS. ALTHOUGH NO ONE METHOD PROVED SUPERIOR TO ALL OTHERS IN ALL RESPECTS, CERTAIN PATTERNS APPEARED WHICH SUGGESTED THE POTENTIAL SUPERIORITY OF THE LANGUAGE METHOD FOR THE LOW READING GROUP PUPIL. RECOMMENDATIONS WERE PROVIDED ON PRACTICES FOR WIDESPREAD ADOPTION AS WELL AS SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER STUDY. (LP)