Fourth grade students who had not previously mastered certain reading skills were classified according to level of previous reading achievement, and randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups: (1) goal-setting conference, where subjects met weekly with a monitor and chose goals for the coming week from a prepared list, receiving feedback and reinforcement related to their success in achieving those goals; (2) conference-only group who met with the monitor to review the experimental skills, but set no goals; and (3) the control group who had no conferences but received the same classroom instruction as the others. Attitude, self-esteem, and achievement were measured following 4 weeks of treatment, after which both the goal-setting and conference-only groups set goals. The results of the study were: (1) no significant differences were found for the effect of treatment; (2) previous level of achievement was significant in terms of attitude, self-esteem, achievement, and goal-setting behavior; and (3) there were no significant effects due to the interaction of treatment by previous level of achievement. (Author/KS)