The increasing demand for improved student performance in the context of significant time constraints places considerable stress on educators and administrators to develop innovative strategies that promote literacy acquisition. This article describes the procedures and outlines the evaluative data for Reading Their Way, a literacy acquisition program that balances elements of phonics and whole language approaches to build reading proficiency. This program combines curriculum exercises with time management strategies to optimize instructional time and increase academic learning time. Data are presented to demonstrate the positive impact of this program on initial reading skill acquisition in kindergarten and on overall reading proficiency in later grades. (Contains 4 figures and 1 table.)