Second-grade pupils who were taught reading in the first grade with the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.) were compared with pupils who were taught reading with traditional orthography (TO). Seventy students from two schools in Moline, Illinois, were divided into a control group (using TO) and an experimental group (using i.t.a.) and were matched on intelligence and socioeconomic factors. Both groups were using the same basal readers (TO) in the second grade. The children were tested on the Stanford Achievement Test, Primary II, Reading and the Kuhlman Anderson Test of Intelligence in the second grade. Data indicated that (1) the i.t.a. group did not achieve significantly higher reading scores than the TO group; (2) the i.t.a. group did achieve higher scores on one variable, Word Study Skills; and (3) at one school, above-average i.t.a. students achieved significantly higher than average i.t.a. students, but this was not the case at the other school. It was recommended that further research be made of an i.t.a. program in the first grade. Tables, references, and appendixes are included. (AL)