Alternative methods for facilitating mastery of reading skills must be provided if instruction is to become differentiated and truly individualized. As part of a study to find alternative methods in reading instruction, 45 fourth graders were pretested for mastery of one skill within the Wisconsin Design for Reading Skill Development, and the 44 students who did not show skill mastery were assigned to one of two instructional groups. One group received skill instruction through a teacher-directed approach while the other group received skill instruction in a learning center situation. Posttest scores show no significant differences between the two groups, leading to the conclusion that the learning center approach could be an alternative to teacher-directed instruction. (Appendixes provide the skills tests that were used in the study, sources of instructional materials, teacher's plans, worksheets, games, transparencies, and an activity check list.) (RL)