The association between social withdrawal, school adjustment, and academic functioning in preschool and school entry is well‐established. Children who experience social withdrawal in primary grades are at risk for decreased academic performance. The bidirectional relationships among early literacy and social withdrawal in primary grades have not been examined to date. The present study used a cross‐lagged model to examine the relationship between social withdrawal and early literacy skills from kindergarten to second grade (N = 137). Results indicated that kindergarten social withdrawal predicted second grade reading achievement after controlling for prior literacy skill acquisition. Bidirectional influence hypotheses were not confirmed in the present study.