THE ACHIEVEMENT TEST PERFORMANCES OF TWO GROUPS OF CHILDREN FOR GRADES 1, 2, AND 3 IN TWO PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, SCHOOLS WERE COMPARED TO EVALUATE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A 3-YEAR EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM USING THE PHONOVISUAL METHOD OF READING INSTRUCTION. PUPILS WERE MATCHED ON SEX, IQ, AND CHRONOLOGICAL AGE. DIFFERENCES OBSERVED BETWEEN THE MEAN SCORES OF GROUPS AT EACH GRADE LEVEL AND FOR EACH SEX WITHIN THE RESPECTIVE GROUPS ON ACHIEVEMENT TESTS IN READING VOCABULARY, READING COMPREHENSION, AND SPELLING WERE ANALYZED. CORRELATION ANALYSES WERE MADE BETWEEN THE SCORES OBTAINED IN SEPTEMBER BY THE FIRST-GRADE CHILDREN ON A MEASURE OF LEARNING READINESS AND END-OF-YEAR READING TEST SCORES. CHILDREN IN THE EXPERIMENTAL SCHOOL WERE FOUND TO BE SUPERIOR TO THEIR COUNTERPARTS IN THE CONTROL SCHOOL IN EACH ANALYSIS OF TEST PERFORMANCE. ALTHOUGH THE GIRLS' PERFORMANCE WAS GENERALLY SUPERIOR TO THE BOYS', BOYS EXPOSED TO THE PHONOVISUAL METHOD WERE AIDED SUBSTANTIALLY IN ACHIEVING HIGHER LEVELS OF PROFICIENCY IN READING SKILLS. A DETAILED ANALYSIS OF DATA IS INCLUDED IN THE REPORT. (LS)