This study compared two methods of teaching reading to disadvantaged first grade students from four schools. An experimental group and a control group were selected in each school. Two schools used departmentalized organizational patterns and two used self-contained organizational patterns. The experimental group was taught reading by the Distar method while the control group was taught by a traditional method. Six null hypotheses were tested for differences in means on reading achievement tests using raw scores for vocabulary and comprehension. A significant difference was obtained between the experimental and control groups in the area of vocabulary. A significant difference was also obtained in vocabulary skills between the experimental and control groups in self-contained classrooms. It was concluded that the experimental teaching method used in the self-contained classrooms was more effective than the same method in the departmentalized classrooms or a traditional method in either classroom setting. (Author/DI)