Reading at an early age provides lifelong benefits and is the foundation for learning. The period between preschool and third grade is a crucial time for children as they transition from learning to read to reading to learn. The purpose of this study was to identify if a relationship exists between the reading scores of students that attended a junior kindergarten program and the reading scores of students that did not attend a junior kindergarten program. This study compared two sets of data on students in the area of reading during their kindergarten, first, second, and third grade years. The data was taken from the AIMSweb® and SuccessMaker® reading assessments given during the 2007 through 2020 school years for children in kindergarten through third grade in one district. This study employed a quantitative approach supported through a non-experimental, casual-comparative, ex post facto design. The data for the study came from 84 of the 391 total students who were assessed using the AIMSweb® reading assessment and 232 of the 511 total students who were assessed using the SuccessMaker® reading assessment. The overall research results suggest that attending a junior kindergarten program does not give students an advantage in the reading area. The two assessments used to assess reading in kindergarten, first, second, and third grade delivered data that provided contradictory results as the SuccessMaker® reading assessment revealed that those students that attended a junior kindergarten program scored higher in the area of reading than those students that did not attend a junior kindergarten program. The AIMSweb® reading assessment revealed that students that did not attend a junior kindergarten program scored just as high or higher on the AIMSweb® reading assessment than those students that did attend a junior kindergarten program at the kindergarten, first, second, and third grade levels. Although the assessment data provided different findings, the study suggests that students who attend a junior kindergarten program may have an advantage in reading over those students that do not attend a junior kindergarten program at least up through the third grade. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]