The purpose of this investigation was to determine the relation among reading readiness achievement, three instructional programs in personal writing, and achievement in personal writing of first-grade children. The 140 white, middle class first graders participating in the study were taught in one of three programs: (1) the Initial Alphabet program, (2) a traditional orthography program with teacher correction of mechanics, content, and style of personal writing, or (3) a traditional orthography program without teacher corrections. The subjects' level of reading readiness achievement was determined from scores on the "New York State Readiness Tests." A word frequency count of two sets of student compositions yielded no statistically significant results, but an assessment of these compositions by means of the Analytic Rating Scale yielded significant differences favoring the Initial Teaching Alphabet program, and the high level of reading readiness achievement. From this it was concluded that the Initial Teaching Alphabet contributes to higher achievement in personal writing than traditional orthography programs, and that high reading readiness achievement contributes to higher achievement in personal writing than medium or low reading readiness achievement. (Author/DD)