Abstract/Notes: To determine the relative effectiveness of different methods of preschool educational intervention for disadvantaged children, comparisons were made of five programs whose levels of structure ranged from the traditional nursery school to a highly structured preschool. Subjects were 79 4-year-olds representing a wide range of ability levels. Intervention effects were evaluated at the end of the preschool year and also, at the end of the kindergarten year. Follow-up data were collected at the end of first grade for three of the programs. Preliminary results were differential and encouraging for the more structured programs. The ameliorative preschool provided a framework for the subsequent investigation of related variables: effects of initiating the program with 3-year-old, low IQ children, and the feasibility of using paraprofessional staff as teachers. Included in this report are studies undertaken to provide instructional programs for children under 3 years and to find techniques to train mothers in home intervention. (MS)

Language: English

Published: Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, May 1969

Abstract/Notes: A Head Start Program operating in Kansas City since 1965 was viewed as inadequate because enrollment was limited to about 600 children per year. The Model Cities Agency determined to provide a program for the remainder of the children in the Model Cities neighborhoods. The programs developed were differentiated administratively for the purposes of this evaluation and the program considered a single entity and referred to as Early Childhood Education. These questions were developed as evaluation goals: What specific educational approaches were provided?; To what degree do the children grow to the stated objectives?; Do these programs meet the emotional, social, physical, and intellectual needs of the program's four-year-old children?; Do these children grow differentially?; Are specified goals reached as anticipated by staff?; What program differences account for student growth differences?; Do parents in the parent education component change relevant to their children's development?; Are these programs complementary with kindergarten programs of urban schools?; What are the effects of staff development activities?; Is program administration effective?; Are children with special problems provided assistance in achievement of program objectives?; And what program changes should be made? Each question is treated in succession and is detailed. Summaries giving the main thrust are provided after each section. (RC)

Language: English

Published: Kansas City, Missouri, Sep 1971

Abstract/Notes: Four experiments were designed to identify socioeconomic differences in preschool locus of control, develop a measurement technique for differentiating between internal and external locus of control in preschoolers, and study the effect of four kinds of preschool programs on locus of control. During the first experiment, the Stephens-Delys Reinforcement Contingency Interview (SDRCI) was developed to assess internal locus of control development in preschoolers. When used with 24 4-year-olds in a Head Start program, the measure was found to have rater and retest reliability; the race of the interviewer did not significantly affect scores. The second experiment indicated that the performance of 32 preschool boys on a mirror-tracing task was positively related to internal locus of control as measured by the SDRCI. In the third study, investigators tested 55 Head Start preschoolers and 50 middle-class nursery school children with the SDRCI. Lower internal control scores were found for the Head Start children than for the middle-class nursery school group; no differences were found between black and white Head Start groups. A final study of 114 children found a nonsignificant tendency for Montessori preschool experience (and to a lesser extent, parent cooperative nursery school experience) to increase internal control, as measured by the SDRCI, more than Head Start or a more structured compensatory preschool program. (Author/BRT)

Language: English

Published: West Lafayette, Indiana, Aug 1973

Abstract/Notes: Maria Montessori believed that preschool children were capable of practicing an elementary form of democracy, could direct their own learning and discipline themselves, and were able to thoughtfully control their behavior for the benefit of the group. She believed also that it was necessary to prepare the environment so that democracy would begin to evolve naturally. Toward this end Montessori provided multi-age grouping, limited amounts of materials, a low pupil/teacher ratio, and real tools rather than toys. She encouraged self-discipline by providing variety in learning activities and materials and, for younger students, "exercises in practical life" to promote a feeling of security. Teachers who value the qualities promoted by the Montessori approach and who wish to promote them in their classrooms must be willing to be facilitators or collaborators rather than directive teachers and must trust children to work with real materials in caring for the room, model appropriate

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: This paper discusses the long-term effects of preschool experience on sixth and seventh grade students. Subjects (n=200) were primarily black, lower-SES, Head Start children who, in 1968-69, were randomly assigned to one of four preschool programs: Bereiter-Engelmann, Darcee, Montessori, and Traditional. In 1976-77, approximately 140 of the children were given the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Revised (WISC-R) and the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT). Overall "F" Tests on the achievement scores of sixth graders indicated two significant differences among programs on Reading Comprehension (p=.05) and Spelling (p=.05). Program differences on Reading Total scores were significant at the .10 level. Among seventh graders there were program differences on Reading, Spelling, and Language subtests (p=.10). Four multi-variate analyses of variance comparing the SAT Total Reading and Total Math scores and WISC-R Verbal and Performance IQ scores of children in each of the four programs indicated that the Montessori program was consistently superior to the other three programs, although these program differences were not statistically significant. Comparison of sixth and seventh grades shows that preschool program participants made average gains of 6 months in Total Reading and 1 month in Total Math. At grade seven, three groups remained 1 year behind grade level. The Montessori group was about a half year behind grade level. There were no significant IQ differences between the groups. Long-term program effects on achievement were found. Overall, children from the Montessori program consistently outperformed the others. (Author/RH)

Language: English

Abstract/Notes: Reported are findings of a longitudinal study on the differential effects of five preschool programs on comparable groups of 4-year-old disadvantaged children. Descriptions are given for the five preschool programs studied: the Bereiter-Engelmann program, which involves intensive oral drill in verbal and logical patterns; the Karnes Ameliorative program, a psycholonguistic model derived from the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities; the community integrated program, which provided a traditional nursery school experience sponsored by community groups; the Montessori program, which provided a prepared environment and a program structured around the prescribed manner in which the child learned from materials; and a traditional preschool or nursery program. Included in a summary of findings were that no statistically significant differences were found among groups on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children 10 years later; that Student Interview data revealed no difference in the child's self concept of school performance across interventions; and that Locus of Control scores were found to be significantly related to Binet IQ scores for all Ss. (SBH)

Language: English

Pages: 25

Abstract/Notes: This study represents a continuation of a longitudinal assessment of the effectiveness of a Montessori and Responsive Environment preschool program sponsored by the Arlington Public Schools. The Metropolitan Readiness Test, the Caldwell Cooperative Preschool Inventory, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test were used to assess the academic achievement and intellectual development of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children with the Montessori or Responsive Environment experiences and those with no preschool experience at the end of the regular kindergarten program. The SRA Achievement Series, Grade 1, was used to assess the achievement of children, with and without the Montessori experience, at the end of first grade. Results indicated that children in the regular 5-year-old kindergarten program with prior Montessori experience scored significantly higher on the Caldwell measure than did children without this experience upon entrance into the program. When all of the children with either type of preschool experience were categorized as one treatment group, results showed that these children scored higher on the Caldwell measure at the beginning and end of the 5-year-old program than those without the experience. Significant differences in favor of the preschool treatment group were also noted on the pretest of the Caldwell subtests: Personal-Social, Associative, Vocabulary, and Concept Activation-Numerical. It was concluded that early educational preschool experiences can be effective in fostering the academic achievement and maintaining the intellectual development of children. (Author/JMB)

Language: English

Pages: 45

Abstract/Notes: The purpose of this study was to compare preschool children from classes using the Montessori method and Science-A Process Approach (S-APA) in the process skill of observation. The first stage of the study compared the programs with respect to (1) the sequential presentation, (2) the use of materials to provide sensory training, (3) practice acquired through activities, and (4) the role of the teacher. Conclusions were that because S-APA and Montessori seemed to have common elements and because both had taught the process of observation, there was a reasonable justification to compare student competence in observation. The second part of the study compared the competence on observational tasks of three groups of 25 children, ages 5 and 6. The first group received Montessori training for two years in preschool, the second group used S-APA for one year with background of another type of preschool that excluded Montessori, and the third group which served as a control had neither Montessori nor S-APA training in their two-year preschool experience. Students were tested on a set of observational tasks from the text, the Science Process Instrument. Findings showed no significant differences between the Montessori and the S-APA preschool students in regard to competence in observation. Both the Montessori and the S-APA groups scored higher than the control group. This work is based on the authors doctoral dissertation research.

Language: English

Published: Chicago, Illinois, Apr 1974

Language: English

Published: Hemet, California: Education System Publishers, 1980

Abstract/Notes: Evaluated the effects of placing additional equipment in preschool classrooms on the cognitive and perceptual development of 123 Negro preschool children. Students were randomized into 6 experimental and 6 control classes. Pre- and post-tests of the Stanford-Binet IQ, Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Performance IQ, and 4 subtests of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities were administered. Both desirable and undesirable effects resulted from the environmental enrichment. Results suggest that certain claims about the cognitive and perceptual value of play materials should be reconsidered.

Language: English

DOI: 10.1037/h0032249

ISSN: 0022-0663, 1939-2176