The problem of this psychometric investigation was developed as four major areas for study: (1) a comprehensive processing model was designed and tested; (2) prediction of academic achievement, including group-administered versus individually-administered instruments, was investigated; (3) memory processes relative to schools and achievement groups were studied; and (4) a special reading program, Southwestern Regional Laboratories (SERL) was evaluated for children identified and placed in a readiness first-grade room. Subjects included all kindergarten students from two schools in a rural, central Indiana town of 15,000, and post-experimental data were collected at the end of the first grade. Findings in general supported the constructs of the model and their interdependence. All of the prediction studies, depending upon the criterion used--vocabulary or comprehension--produced a versatile list of predictors such as motor development, initial sounds, and visual memory. A memory test was not found to provide enough information to be utilized as the only predictor of achievement. And children in the treatment group did not improve or do significantly better than their counterparts in the control school. (Author/RB)