This study was a follow-up of a three year longitudinal study of factors affecting learning to read. It examined the efficacy of four different approaches to beginning reading instruction on subsequent reading achievement in grade four. Major purposes were to determine what effect maturation and exposure to a non-experimental typical grade four classroom environment had on the achievement of four post-experimental groups (45 Scott, Foresman; 45 Lippincott; 45 i/t/a-Merrill; and 45 Phonics and Word Power [PWP] pupils) and then to compare their reading and other pertinent achievement with that of a group of 45 randomly selected non-experimental students. The Stanford Achievement Test, Intermediate 1 Battery, Form W. given in October and Form Y given in February, yielded two sets of scores for Word Meaning, Paragraph Meaning, Spelling, Word Study Skills, Language, Arithmetic Computation, Arithmetic Concepts, Arithmetic Application, Social Studies, and Science. After six months some of the significant differences between groups included: the Lippincott group remained significantly higher than the PWP group in Word Meaning; the Lippincott group scored higher on Language than the similar average IQ PWP group; and in Word Study Skills both the Lippincott and the i/t/a average IQ group scored higher than the Scott, Foresman high IQ group. (Author/WR)