Tables 1 and 2 present the results of the statistical analysis of the data when compulsivity is used as the descriptive variable. Figure 1 portrays the mean achievement scores of each sub-group graphically. First of all, as we had surmised, the highly compulsive children in the structured setting score significantly better (** f) on achievement than do similar children in the unstructured schools. It can be seen too that when we contrast levels of compulsivity within the structured schools, the high compulsive children do better (** f). No significant difference was found in achievement between high and low compulsive children within the unstructured school. The hypothesis of there being an interaction between compulsivity and teaching method was supported, in this case, at the.05 level.

While we had expected that compulsive children in the unstructured school setting would have difficulty when compared to those in the structured, we were surprised to find that the achievement of the high compulsives within the schools where the whole-word method is used in beginning reading compares favorably with that of the low compulsives. Indeed their achievement scores were somewhat better on an absolute basis although the difference was not significant. We speculate that compulsives in the unstructured schools are under greater strain because of the lack of systemization in their school setting, but that their need to organize (for comfort) is so intense that they struggle to induce the phonic rules and achieve in spite of the lack of direction from the environment.