Mr. Stark describes a program that systematically identifies the learning needs of kindergartners and first-graders and develops instructional strategies to meet specific deficits. WHEN President Clinton announced the America Reads Challenge, he cited several school-based programs as examples of successful child literacy and tutoring programs. One of these was the Early Identification and Intervention (Early ID) program operated by the Reading Community Schools, a suburban system located approximately 12 miles from Cincinnati and serving some 1,400 students in two elementary schools and one junior/senior high school. More than 20 years old, Early ID is a locally developed project that meets the needs of its kindergarten and first-grade participants through the services of unpaid trained volunteers, including parents, grandparents, community members, and older students. These volunteers are not asked to teach reading skills; instead, the program focuses on preliteracy and volunteers work with kindergarten children on activities associated with prereading and prewriting. Along with the program's documented benefits to the children, its parent and community involvement engenders broad-based support for the district's educational efforts. Though pleased with the national recognition, the district has experienced many unanticipated outcomes, including invitations for presentations, requests for replication, and even a little scholarly criticism.1 Early ID was originally developed to address the weaknesses of children who lack certain experiences and skills that serve as precursors to learning to read and write. Such children have poor fine-motor and perceptual skills, limited speaking and/or listening skills, and little knowledge of the basic language concepts needed to follow directions or to develop comprehension skills. Historically, kindergarten and first- grade teachers have worked diligently to remediate deficits in motor skills and basic language concepts. Yet many of these at-risk children have continued to lag behind their peers throughout their school years, which suggests that they have failed to overcome their deficiencies. The design of Early ID provides a systematic process to identify student learning needs and to develop instructional strategies to meet specific deficits. Prior to the inception of the program, responsibility for identifying the learning needs of kindergartners rested solely with their teachers. The current identification process evaluates each student's fine-motor skills, visual-perception capabilities, and knowledge of basic language concepts. These results are shared at a districtwide meeting of the various professionals involved in early primary education, including kindergarten and first- grade teachers, speech and language pathologists, the school psychologist, the program and building administrators, the school nurse, the elementary librarian, and the superintendent. Pretest results may suggest changes in emphasis in the kindergarten curriculum. When the program was implemented, kindergarten staff members were quick to see the advantages for students if the needs uncovered in the screening process were addressed and emphasized throughout the year. A schedule for daily intervention is implemented by Early ID volunteers, an approach consistent with the volunteer aspects of the America Reads Challenge. The Early ID process is a highly structured one, which allows the volunteers to follow a sequential set of skill activities through primary, intermediate, and advanced levels, using color-coded activity cards. Instruction begins at a concrete level and moves to abstract levels of understanding only when the student has demonstrated success. Student success is monitored after each session, and records of student performance are maintained by the volunteers and reviewed by Early ID aides, who may consult with the school psychologist. …