DATA RELEVANT TO THE FOLLOWING THREE QUESTIONS WERE DRAWN FROM 27 INDIVIDUAL STUDIES COMPRISING THE COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM IN FIRST-GRADE READING INSTRUCTION--(1) TO WHAT EXTENT ARE VARIOUS PUPIL, TEACHER, CLASS, SCHOOL, AND COMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS RELATED TO ACHIEVEMENT IN FIRST-GRADE READING AND SPELLING, (2) WHICH APPROACH TO INITIAL READING INSTRUCTION PRODUCES SUPERIOR READING AND SPELLING ACHIEVEMENT AT THE END OF THE FIRST GRADE, AND (3) IS ANY PROGRAM UNIQUELY EFFECTIVE OR INEFFECTIVE FOR PUPILS WITH HIGH OR LOW READINESS FOR READING. THE INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACHES EVALUATED INCLUDE THE BASAL, THE BASAL PLUS PHONICS, THE I.T.A., THE LINGUISTIC, THE LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE, AND THE PHONIC/LINGUISTIC. THE ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET PRIOR TO BEGINNING READING WAS THE SINGLE BEST PREDICTOR OF FIRST-GRADE READING ACHIEVEMENT. AN ANALYSIS OF METHODOLOGY INDICATED THAT THE VARIOUS NONBASAL INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS TENDED TO BE SUPERIOR TO BASAL PROGRAMS AS MEASURED BY WORD RECOGNITION SKILLS AFTER ONE YEAR OF READING INSTRUCTION. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BASAL AND NONBASAL PROGRAMS WERE LESS CONSISTENT WHEN COMPREHENSION, SPELLING, RATE OF ACCURACY OF READING, AND WORD STUDY SKILLS WERE EVALUATED. NO METHOD WAS ESPECIALLY EFFECTIVE OR INEFFECTIVE FOR PUPILS OF HIGH OR LOW READINESS. TABLES, A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE, AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY ARE INCLUDED. THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE "READING RESEARCH QUARTERLY," VOLUME 2, NUMBER 4, SUMMER 1967. (RH)