TWO FIRST GRADE CLASSES, ONE USING THE INITIAL TEACHING ALPHABET (ITA) AND ONE USING TRADITIONAL ORTHOGRAPHY (TO), WERE RANDOMLY SELECTED FROM A SCHOOL IN EACH OF 4 SCHOOL DISTRICTS. THE TOTAL SAMPLE CONSISTED OF 100 CHILDREN IN ITA CLASSES AND 100 CHILDREN IN TO CLASSES. THE CLASSES WERE GROUPED HETEROGENEOUSLY. THE PINTNER- CUNNINGHAM PRIMARY TEST, FORM A, WAS ADMINISTERED TO DETERMINE THE INTELLIGENCE RATING FOR EACH SUBJECT. THE DATA GATHERED INCLUDED 1 ORAL RESPONSE AND 1 WRITTEN RESPONSE FOR EACH PUPIL IN THE STUDY FOR EACH OF 3 STIMULI. THE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT THE WRITTEN LANGUAGE OF CHILDREN INSTRUCTED IN ITA, WHEN COMPARED WITH CHILDREN INSTRUCTED IN TO, SHOWED (1) AN INCREASED QUANTITY OF WRITING, (2) A GREATER VARIETY OF VOCABULARY EMPLOYED IN THE COMPOSITION, AND (3) AN INCREASED NUMBER OF THOUGHT UNITS WHEN EVALUATED BY CATEGORY OF INTELLIGENCE AND ORAL LANGUAGE COMPETENCY. THE RESULTS ALSO SUGGEST THAT A BROADER SAMPLE BE EVALUATED TO INCLUDE SUCH DISCRIMINATING FACTORS AS CLASSROOM PROCEDURE, INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL, AND CORRELATION WITH RELATED LANGUAGE ARTS ACTIVITIES. THE LONGITUDINAL EFFECT ON THE WRITTEN LANGUAGE COMPETENCY OF THE FIRST GRADE CHILDREN IN THE PILOT STUDY WAS TO BE DETERMINED WHEN THET PROCEEDED TO SECOND GRADE. (CO)