A study investigated previous research findings that children demonstrate certain confusions about print conventions, and that above average readers perform better on measures that assess knowledge of print conventions than do poorer readers. In addition, the study measured the contribution of intelligence to both print awareness and reading achievement and tested for the presence of certain hypothesized effect sizes to more precisely define the relationship between print awareness, reading ability, and intelligence. Subjects, 62 white female and 56 white male first grade students, completed the Concepts about Print Test (CAPT), the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, and the Stanford Achievement Test. In general, the results supported previous findings that some beginning readers' concepts of letters, words, and punctuation marks are not stabilized even after one year of reading instruction. Significant differences were found between types of readers on the intelligence measure and on items of the CAPT representing directional habits and pertaining to the identification of incorrect word and letter sequences and punctuation. While measures of reading achievement and intelligence together accounted for 40% of the variance in print awareness scores, neither accounted for a substantial amount of variance with the other statistically controlled. No sex differences were discovered on any variable measured. (Extensive tables of data are appended.) (FL)