Using 660 elementary school students from six school districts as subjects, a study examined student performance in reading aloud from four different reading curricula (Houghton Mifflin; Ginn 720; Holt, Rinehart & Winston; and Scott, Foresman), and the sensitivity of scores within each curriculum to growth across grade levels. Three different reading measurement tasks were developed. Two of the tasks were curriculum based; the other, which served as a common measure, was not curriculum bound. The two basal reading measurement tasks consisted of a reading passage and a vocabulary list; the common measure was a word list. The testing of the students was conducted within the first month of school. Results indicated that in all grades there appeared to be differences among the reading series in at least one of the measurement tasks--reading word lists or reading passages. The most consistent finding was that, when differences existed, Scott, Foresman and Houghton Mifflin appeared to be in the low student performance set, while Ginn 720 and Holt, Rinehart & Winston appeared in the high student performance set. This was especially true when the task utilized a word list rather than a reading passage. Results further indicated that the tasks for all four curricula adequately reflected student growth across grade levels. (HOD)