A study was conducted to test the effectiveness of a preschool program which emphasized rapid attainment of basic academic concepts. The experimentals were 4- to 5-year-old lower class, predominantly Negro, children. For 2 years they received instruction 2 hours daily, 5 times a week, in a group where the pupil-teacher ratio was five to one. To…

This experiment was based on the assumption that the academic failure of the disadvantaged or middle class child is due to a failure of instruction and that if above-normal learning schedules were maintained, the second year of an enrichment program would not show the customary drop in gains from the first year. The subjects of this study were 43…