David P. Ausubel (1963, 1968) has developed a psychology of meaningful reception learning which is intimately related to instruction as it typically occurs in schools. A key component of this psychology involves the hypothesized effects of advance organizers has not been adequately evaluated. Previous investigations, while of theoretical interest, have merely demonstrated the equivocal nature of a poorly defined pedagogical tool in a number of situation-specific research settings. The present study attempted to rectify this state of affairs by: a) developing an operationally defined advance organizer, and b) testing the effects of this treatment relative to a traditional prose organizer in a cross-sectional research designs. Subjects in grades six through twelve were randomly assigned to three treatment conditions: graphic organizer, prose organizer, and control. Materials were aimed at the ninth grade population and held constant across the seven grade levels. Analysis of the data revealed no significant differences in favor of the organizer treatments as any of the seven grade levels. Apparently, within-grade subject variability negated the potential effects, if any, of the advance organizers. (Author/RK)