The British experiment with the Initial Teaching Alphabet was in its third year at the time of this report on the effectiveness of i.t.a. as a beginning reading program. Two groups of students were compared; one that started learning to read with i.t.a. and one that started with t.o. (traditional orthography). Reading and spelling tests were…

In assessing the effectiveness of the initial teaching alphabet, a survey included the professional opinions of British teachers who have used i.t.a. and a searching critical analysis of the published experimental research on i.t.a. (Author/RK)

The purpose of this project was to test the effectiveness of i.t.a. in teaching reading to first grade students in the Portland Public Schools. Some of the elements of the experimental design included the following: one experimental--i.t.a.--and one control--traditional orthography (TO)--class was formed in each of ten schools; teachers and…