Concern about the high percentage of underprepared minority students in American schools and the increasing demand that schools educate them to a level never before attained are discussed, and a study of reading disabled bilingual students is reported. It is noted that continuing to allow a disproportionate number of minority or disadvantaged students, including many bilingual students, to pass through the education system without meeting high standards of achievement means they are likely to end up in dead-end jobs or on welfare. The decoding and word recognition and whole language approaches to teaching beginning reading are reviewed briefly, along with conflicting opinions about teaching methods. It is suggested that the solution to functional illiteracy lies not in promotional or retention policies, but in preschool and other early childhood programs, and some findings are reported that show that traditional methods of teaching beginning reading fail to help bilingual at-risk students. An experimental study of bilingual fifth-grade students who read below average is summarized, showing the success of a program of which a reading support system, Easy Steps to Reading Independence (ESRTI), was an integral part. Teacher responses to an ESRTI questionnaire are appended. (LB)