In the Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland the Chapter 1 program is atypical in that the mainstream model is used. Students remain in their classrooms for Chapter 1 instruction, which they receive along with regular instruction. This model is increasingly recognized by other districts as an alternative to the more widely used pull-out approach. A study of the progress of Chapter 1 students was conducted in 1985-86. The group under study were students who had received Chapter 1 in grades K, 1, and 3 in 1979-80. This group was compared to other students in the grade cohort who had not received Chapter 1 services. The findings included the following: (1) most of these students had not needed special education services, those who did needed low levels of service; (2) the performance of the Chapter 1 students on statewide reading and mathematics tests was similar to that of ninth graders throughout the state but lower than that of ninth graders in the district; (3) the target group performed below grade level on criterion-referenced tests; (4) the suspension rate for the Chapter 1 students was over twice that of other students in their cohort; and (5) the Chapter 1 students experienced other problems, in areas such as achievement, speech and language, listening and social or emotional adjustment. Statistical data are provided on tables. (VM)