A practicum was developed to improve the inferential comprehension, the textual and functional skills, and the overall attitudes toward reading of fifth-grade students. A target group of six students in a private school who were deficient in these skills was established. The practicum contained basic strategies for improving reading skills and academic achievement; a change to a literature-based approach to reading; incorporation of the teaching of skills; the change from homogeneous grouping to heterogeneous classes; a one-on-one system for reading practice; journal writing; sustained silent reading; and a special Book Readers' Club through which students promoted, to fellow students, their interest in books and reading. Results indicated that: (1) 83% of the targeted students improved their reading attitude by 20%; (2) the recreational reading attitudes of 83% of the targeted students improved by 10%; (3) the inferential comprehension skills of 83% of the targeted students improved; (4) the objective that the textual and functional reading skills of 50% of the targeted students would be improved by 10% was not met; and (5) all of the students increased their reading of books by more than 50%. Students in the practicum reacted favorably to the change in the reading program, both in measurable and unmeasurable ways. The mood and tone in the classroom was positive and promoted camaraderie where once there was competition. (Contains 19 references and 6 tables of data. Appendixes of data, survey instruments, scoring sheets, and a sample lesson plan are attached.) (RS)