Based upon the relationship of the child's ability to conserve, as measured by Piaget tasks, to his success in beginning reading, this study compared the reading readiness of two groups of first-grade students. One group used Material Objects (Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS)) and the other, Harper and Row's Reading Readiness Program. Gains in reading readiness were obtained from pre- and posttests using the Metropolitan Reading Readiness Test. The study was conducted in two parts. Part 1 involved teacher participation in a three-week summer program in the SCIS program. Forty-five teachers participated. Teachers were observed and assisted during the following academic year in order to choose those who would participate in the research. Part 2 involved administering of the instruments and the collection and analysis of data. Testing results showed that the experimental group (those using the SCIS program) had outgained the control group in total reading readiness. The level of significance for this difference was between 0.10 and 0.20. In addition, the experimental group outgained the control group in the subtest areas of word meaning, listening, matching, alphabet, and numbers while the control group outgained the experimental group only in the area of copying. (Author/EB)