CHILDREN IN FIVE SECOND-GRADE CLASSROOMS IN TWO CENTRAL CONNECTICUT STATE COLLEGE LABORATORY SCHOOLS PROVIDED THE POPULATION FOR A STUDY TO DETERMINE THE RELATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF THREE APPROACHES TO SPELLING INSTRUCTION IN PRODUCING SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES (WITHIN I.Q. GROUPS OF 111-140 AND 90-110) IN SPELLING ACHIEVEMENT AND IN ABILITY TO GENERALIZE PHONIC PRINCIPLES. THESE APPROACHES TO SPELLING WERE (1) A PHONIC-STRUCTURAL APPROACH UTILIZING SKILL AND WORD MAINTENANCE AND INTEGRATION OF LANGUAGE SKILLS, (2) A WHOLE-WORD APPROACH EMPHASIZING MEANING AND CONTEXT, AND UTILIZING THE ANALYSIS OF WORDS AND DEVELOPMENT OF MEANING, AND (3) A TEACHER-DIRECTED APPROACH UTILIZING SKILLS TAUGHT IN THE READING PROGRAM TO DEVELOP SPELLING SKILLS. NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES AMONG THE THREE APPROACHES OCCURRED IN SPELLING ACHIEVEMENT WITHIN THE STUDY'S TOTAL POPULATION OR WITHIN THE 111-140 I.Q. RANGE. THE PHONIC-STRUCTURAL APPROACH PRODUCED A SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER GAIN IN SPELLING OVER THE OTHER APPROACHES WITHIN THE 90-110 I.Q. RANGE. SIGNIFICANT GAINS IN GROWTH OF WORD DISCRIMINATION OCCURRED FOR THE TEACHER-DIRECTED APPROACH WHEN CONSIDERING TOTAL POPULATION AND BOTH I.Q. RANGES. INTERPRETED GENERALLY, RESULTS INDICATED THAT THE PHONIC-STRUCTURAL AND TEACHER-DIRECTED APPROACHES ARE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN THE WHOLE-WORD APPROACH IN DEVELOPING SPELLING ABILITY AND WORD DISCRIMINATION. HOWEVER, THE STUDY WAS BIASED TOWARD THE ABOVE-AVERAGE POPULATION, AND THE YEAR-END TEST DID NOT HAVE A SUFFICIENTLY HIGH CEILING TO DISCRIMINATE AMONG THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE HIGH I.Q. STUDENTS. REPLICATION OF THE STUDY, FREE FROM I.Q. BIASES AND WITH ADEQUATE EVALUATIVE DEVICES, IS NEEDED. (SEE ALSO TE 000 388.) (RD)