In order to insure maximum success of the school's Head Start program, parents and teachers associated with a public school in Harlem chose a program based on the Interdependent Learner Model Follow Through Program originated at New York University. The federally funded program was introduced into kindergarten and first-grade classrooms and concentrated on direct reading instruction based on sound patterns and supplemented by use of the talking typewriter. Originally the program served over 300 children, and expansion into second grade has increased this number. Teachers are aided by two paraprofessionals per classroom and by additional parent volunteers. The adults work with individual children using a predesigned system with highly structured directions and responses to teach reading skills. Games supplement this activity, and children are urged to work with other children in order to increase interdependence with peers while lessening dependence on adults. Evaluation after 1 year of operation showed significantly better readers among the Follow Through students than among other first graders. (MS)