A study investigated various developmental relationships between the attitudes of students toward reading and their reading achievement, with the intention of providing additional information concerning attitudes and attitude testing within school programs. Subjects, 876 students in grades 1 through 8 from a white, middle-class rural community, completed the Estes Reading Attitude Scale. Subjects' scores on the reading comprehension subtest of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills were used to assess reading achievement. Results indicated: (1) a low but consistent positive relationship between students' attitudes toward reading and actual reading achievement; (2) achievement level in reading remained stable despite the considerable changes in attitude toward reading; (3) attitude toward reading appeared to be maintained through the grades until grade eight, in which there was a decrease; (4) correlations between students' attitudes toward reading achievement were significantly higher for female than for male students; (5) the drop in attitude in the total population was principally due to the drop in positive attitude of the male students in grades seven and eight; (6) the actual performance of male and female students in reading achievement showed no difference; (7) for students of lower reading achievement, attitudes toward reading decreased over time; and (8) attitude toward reading tended to follow the achievement in reading level of both normal and high readers. (Six tables and four figures of data are included; 86 references, the Estes Attitude Scales, and an appendix of data are attached.) (Author/RS)