The purpose of this correlational study was to determine if variables known upon a group of students' enrollment in kindergarten had a significant relationship with their high-stakes reading assessment results obtained six years later, in the students' fifth grade year. Archival data was gathered from a rural northern Georgia school district. After a correlation matrix was constructed to examine the relationships among all variables of interest, bivariate linear regressions were used to determine whether the predictor variables explained any variance in the results of the fifth grade high-stakes reading assessment. Results indicated that one of the four predictor variables (vocabulary) explained a significant amount of variance in fifth grade CRCT Reading scores. In addition, a second variable (socioeconomic status) was significantly correlated with this predictor variable. Implications are discussed in terms of risk assessment, instruction, and assessment of reading comprehension. Recommendations are made for further longitudinal research in the early assessment and remediation of deficits contributing to long-term reading comprehension difficulties. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]