Current research dealing with the importance of reading, various beginning reading programs, and reading and the disadvantaged child was surveyed. This was followed by an explanation of the DISTAR Reading Program, which was designed to teach reading to disadvantaged children. The remainder of the report described a study which was conducted to substantiate the hypothesis that children who are taught by the DISTAR approach will become successful readers. In this study, 89 first-grade children were placed in four classes and separated by each teacher into three ability groupings. Class 1 received instruction only in the DISTAR Reading Program; two classes received instruction in Phonetic Keys to Reading, and the fourth class was used to match "pair-wise" each child in Class 2 on certain characteristics. Pretests and post-tests were administered to the first three classes. Examination of the obtained data indicated that all ability groups using the DISTAR approach profited from the instruction. The DISTAR group, when compared to the other groups, showed greater reading achievement. The study was chiefly significant in regard to the achievement of the low ability group, who might have been expected to fail in first grade. Tables and a bibliography are included. (DH)