Funded through the Ohio Disadvantaged Pupil Program Fund, the Instructional Assistant Program of the Columbus, Ohio public schools provided direct instructional service to selected pupils in the classroom setting. The program was located in 60 buildings, with an equivalent of 147 assistants serving 202 teachers and 2048 pupils in kindergarten and first grade, and provided daily activities to strengthen and extend regular classroom instruction. Emphasis was placed on activities which would increase the oral and written language and reading skills needed to be successful in school. Evaluation data included results of standardized tests and locally constructed surveys. Results indicated that: (1) the attendance criterion was met by 35% of the 445 kindergarten pupils served and 49% of the 1603 first-grade pupils served; (2) improvements of 3.0 or more normal curve equivalents were achieved by 67% of the kindergarten evaluation sample and 53% of the first-grade sample on the Total Reading test and by 68% of the kindergarten sample on the Oral Comprehension test; (3) 79% of the kindergarten teacher ratings and 84% of the first-grade teacher ratings agreed that pupil success was attributable to the services of the instructional assistant; (4) more than 80% of the assistants rated inservice meetings as very informative and worthwhile; and (5) 86% of the first-grade pupils were promoted. Findings support continuation of the program. Recommendations include having teachers as well as assistants attend inservice meetings, and continuation of school visitation by the program evaluator. (Sixteen tables of data are included; evaluation forms, survey instruments, and five tables of data are attached.) (RS)