A dissertation-study focused on 210,305 non-categorical third and fifth grade reading results of the 1987 Pennsylvania Test for Essential Learning Skills (TELS). The data given by the Pennsylvania Department of Education was analyzed through descriptive statistics for the following purposes: (1) to determine a difference and a magnitude of a difference between reading assessment scores and those at or below a cut-score according to race, gender, and socioeconomic status; and (2) to determine a difference and a magnitude of a difference between reading assessment scores at or below a cut-score of students who are also in the Educational Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) Chapter I according to race, gender and socioeconomic status. Major findings were that with or without ECIA Chapter I, Blacks and Hispanics ranked consistently below all other racial groups in reading. Twice as many Orientals, Blacks and Hispanics failed the TELS reading test as compared to the same racial groups with ECIA Chapter I. Those with greater amounts of newspapers, magazines, and books in the home had higher reading scores. Gender differences were also found in the study. (Sixty-six tables of data are included; 115 references are attached.) (Author/PRA)