Kindergarten students were selected for participation in a reading intervention program on the basis of their ability to name the letters of the alphabet. The intervention consisted of 1:2 tutoring for 30 min per day for two 10-wk periods using an interactive strategies approach that emphasized direct instruction in the alphabetic principle, phonemic awareness, analyzing words, learning sight words and reading connected text. A treatment group consistently outperformed a "waiting group" control, which also showed accelerated progress upon receiving the intervention. A 2 yr longitudinal follow up of this kindergarten cohort indicated lower rates of placement in special education.