The feasibility of devising a highly individualized reading program for low-achieving 6-year-old children centering on structured tutoring was investigated. The 33 subjects from three schools would enter first grade in the fall and were considered low achievers on the basis of kindergarten testing. Upper-grade elementary students volunteered to tutor on a one-to-one basis and were placed under a supervisor in each school. Each tutor was trained in structured tutoring techniques in teaching the prescriptions which constituted the criteria objectives for each child. At the end of the 6-week period, the children were given a test that measured their achievement of the specified criteria--seven letters, five sight words, eight sounds, eight to ten phonetic words, and five to eight nonsense words. The first-grade teachers in the three participating schools were asked to rank all their pupils on reading ability 3 months after the beginning of the school year. This ranking disclosed that only five of the children in the study were considered to be in the lower one-third of their class in contrast to all 33 having been identified as being in the lower one-third of their kindergarten class. Tables are included. (DH)