Intended to determine whether, given the expense of the commercial Writing To Read (WTR) program, equal or better results could be obtained through other means, a study assessed the effectiveness of three methods of promoting composition in kindergarten and first grade classrooms. Three groups of kindergarten and first grade students from low income Black and Hispanic families participated in the study. The IBM WTR group utilized computers, workbooks, and manipulatives to nurture reading and writing skills in a logical sequential format. The free writing group used a whole language approach based on emergent literary research in which children are encouraged to write anything they want in whatever way they are able. For the control group, composition was taught according to the"Handbook for Written Composition, Kindergarten-Grade 8" disseminated to all teachers in the system. Results indicated: (1) at the kindergarten level, the free writing group significantly surpassed both other groups in assessments of encoding, content, word attack, and spelling; (2) at the first grade level, the WTR group performed significantly higher than the control group on word analysis and invented spelling; and (3) all classes that were encouraged to write freely and use invented spelling scored higher in content. Results suggested that free writing should be stressed in kindergartens and first grades, and that although WTR appears to help children's word analysis skills, a pencil and paper approach seems to improve more than just these skills. (Seven tables of data are included; 27 references are attached.) (PRA)