Summary.The concept of specific reading retardation assumes that there exists a stable group of under‐achieving children whose classification is not simply age‐ or test‐specific. This assumption was investigated longitudinally in a large sample of New Zealand children who were followed from age 7 to age 11. Substantial overlap was found between groups classified as specific reading retarded at ages 7, 9, and 11 on the basis of Burt reading and WISC‐R Performance IQ scores. At age 11, there was also substantial agreement between classifications based on three separate measures of reading achievement, although there was evidence of test‐specific factors unique to comprehension‐versusword recognition‐based classifications. Agreement between classifications at age 11 based on WISC‐R Performance IQ and Fullscale IQ was high. The data indicated the existence of a fairly stable group of children characterised by enduring under‐achievement in reading throughout the primary y