A 4-Block Balanced Reading Program was implemented in a school system in Georgia during the 1998-99 school year in an effort to improve reading achievement of these students. This study examined the short-term effect of this program implementation on reading achievement and attitudes toward reading of students in Grades 1 through 5 (n=2,127) who had been exposed to this approach for 1 school year. Surprisingly, despite the fact that the 4-Block Balanced Reading Program has been utilized for nearly a decade, scant research exists on the efficacy of this reading intervention. Statistically significant reductions in achievement scores were found for Grade 5. Conversely, for Grade 4, a statistically significant increase was found for African American males. Cognitive Ability Test scores also were compared across grades. The fact that the fourth-grade scores did not differ from the earlier grades suggests that intelligence does not explain the relatively superior reading achievement of fourth graders over the 1-year period. With respect to reading attitudes, statistically significant differences were noted for Grade 2 (African American females), Grade 3 (African American females and males), Grade 4 (African American females and males), and Grade 5 (African American males and White females). In all cases, posttest scores were lower than were pretest scores, with moderate effect sizes, in general. Thus, the current findings, although preliminary, cast serious doubt over the effectiveness of the 4-Block Balanced Reading Program. Implications are discussed. Contains 28 references, 8 tables, and 3 figures of data. (Author/RS)