In fall 1992, a study was conducted at Evergreen Valley College (EVC) and San Jose City College (SJCC), in California, to measure the persistence rate over 4 academic years of students with no previous college experience who entered into a fundamentals of reading course (English 321) and an introduction to college reading course (English 322) in fall 1988. The study sought to determine the persistence of students through transfer level English (1A). Study findings included the following: (1) for the EVC group, 7% of the English 321 and 23% of the English 322 students completed a transfer level course after 4 years; (2) for the SJCC group, 13% of the English 321 and 20% of the English 322 students completed a transfer level course; (3) at EVC, 10% of the male and 5% of the female English 321 students persisted through transfer level, compared to 21% of the male and 25% of the female English 322 students; (4) at SJCC, 7% of the male and 17% of the female English 321 students completed a transfer level course, compared to 18% of the male and 22% of the female English 322 students; (5) for both English 321 and 322 at EVC, persistence rates by ethnicity were 35% for Blacks, 21% for Hispanics, 15% for Asians, and 9% for Whites; for both courses at SJCC, persistence rates by ethnicity were 27% for Asians, 20% for Whites, 18% for Hispanics, and 13% for Blacks. (KP)