One hundred and seventy-four Texas Christian University developmental reading students participated in an investigation which applied the residual gain technique to individual reading gains as measured by the cloze procedure. Comparisons were made between cloze crude gains and cloze residual gains and between cloze tests constructed with lexical versus structural deletions. Correlations of gains with a multiple-choice knowledge test and with the Davis Reading Test were studied. The following conclusions were reached: (1) the cloze test was a valid measure of prereading and post-reading knowledge; (2) the cloze test was a highly sensitive measure of reading gain; (3) the use of the residual gain technique was justified; (4) there was a significant negative correlation between initial status and cloze crude gains, but no correlation between initial status and cloze residual gains; (5) crude cloze residual gains did not bear a meaningful relationship to post-reading knowledge tests or to standardized reading tests; (6) structural cloze residual gains did bear a desirably low but significant correlation with post-reading tests and standardized reading tests; and (7) lexical cloze residual gains were related to post-reading knowledge tests but not to standardized reading tests. References are included. (BS)