In 1998, Connecticut's Public Act 98-243 mandated the development of an individual 3-year reading plan to address at-risk students, literacy instruction, professional development, and to forge stronger links with students' families. District reading plans were submitted to the Connecticut State Department of Education to be utilized as a rich data source documenting the variety of strategies, initiatives, and programs in place to support students' early reading development. Additionally, these plans document the professional development needs of individual school districts in the areas of literacy instruction. A teacher survey collected data on individual knowledge of reading development, instructional methods and strategies for working with at-risk readers. This paper describes a project to facilitate reading success by expanding the repertoire of assessment skills and comprehension and grouping strategies available to the participating teachers. The paper explains that the project also wished to offer field experience to graduate students in education at Saint Joseph College who were invited to work as substitutes for teachers attending workshops. It first presents project goals and then discusses assessment of student reading levels. It states that much of the training focused on developing alternative instructional strategies to help teachers acquire strategies to support students reading below grade level. The paper cites the implementation of a balanced literacy approach to teach reading and describes future plans. (Contains 15 references.) (NKA)