The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not systematic verbal positive reinforcement administered by two relatively unsophisticated teachers would favorably affect students' achievement scores. Two kindergarten and two first grade classes served as the experimental population with ten students from each class and one teacher from each grade comprising the experimental group. All children were pre- and posttested on the Caldwell-Soule Preschool Inventory and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). Scores of the PPVT pretest and the Pintner-Cunningham (given to all kindergarten children) were held constant to control for intelligence differences. The experimental teachers were trained to administer appropriate positive reinforcement to their students. Study results showed that they considerably increased their positive reinforcement output from earlier baseline measures. The control teachers used positive reinforcement about as often as they had at baseline. Analysis of the Caldwell-Soule pre- and posttest scores revealed enough significant differences to support the contention that a program of systematic verbal positive reinforcement does favorably affect the achievement of kindergarten and first grade students. (MH)