"The Electric Company" was created by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) as an experiment in using television to teach reading skills to children in grades 2-4 who were having difficulty learning to read in school. With more than 500 shows completed and four seasons behind it, the series continues to be an experiment. The methods of presenting the curricula via television are still being tested, altered and refined to build on the show's experience and to attain optimum effect. There has been a gradual shifting in emphasis from a show to be viewed at home to one to be used in a classroom. The series was initially conceived as primarily an after-school program, but research during the first season of 1971-72 made it clear that the series had dramatically found its way into schools and was being incorporated into the classroom routine. (JY)