A total of 99 students from a Toronto secondary vocational school participated in a study to determine whether students who studied retail merchandising differed significantly in comprehension and reading rate from students who did not study retail merchandising. An experimental group composed of 50 merchandising students and a control group of 49 nonmerchandising students were given a passage on merchandising content material to read silently for one minute. After reading the passage, each student completed ten multiple-choice comprehension questions. Grade level, age, sex, race, ethnic background, and scores on a reading for understanding (RFU) measure were also elicited in order to discover factors related to reading success. The findings indicated that the study of retail merchandising had no effect on reading comprehension but did affect reading rate. The students displaying the greatest success in reading were older students in higher grades, females, whites, nonethnics, and those with high RFU scores. (An appendix contains copies of the reading tests and guidelines for the conduct of research in Toronto schools.) (FL)