Every day, schools and communities across the U.S. identify millions of young children as "at risk"--especially those with a minority background, who live in poor neighborhoods or are learning English as a second language. FPG's Project U-STARS-PLUS (Using Science, Talents, and Abilities to Recognize Students-Promoting Learning for…

A basic problem of disadvantaged students is their inability to deal with information: to assist the teacher the Niagara Centre of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education has described a set of skills sequences that might be called Basic Thinking Skills. (JM)

Cognitive frameworks are the common meanings that a group of people share as they perceive things, communicate, explain events, understand connections between events, and interpret their world. This paper explores the use of the concept of shared cognitive frameworks in formulating methods for improving public schools. The analysis is based on…

This summary report, one of a series of documents on the evaluation of the University of Western Ontario Preschool Project, reviews studies (conducted as part of the project) of preschool children to determine why disadvantaged children fail in school and to discover if compensatory education activates and maintains the children's cognitive…

This investigation was designed to identify scales indicative of the development of problem-solving behavior in young children, and to discover whether children of different backgrounds exhibit similarities in the order of development and levels of achievement of problem-solving behaviors. Items from twenty-two tests were selected for use.…

THE CHILD'S CAPACITY FOR SELF-ACTUATED INTELLECTUAL GROWTH AND THE POSSIBILITY OF SPEEDING UP INTELLECTUAL GROWTH THROUGH IMPROVED OPPORTUNITIES AND INCREASED STIMULATION WERE STUDIED. SIX EXPLORATORY STUDIES CARRIED OUT DURING THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF THIS PROJECT WERE REPORTED. THE THREE MAIN AREAS OF LEARNING WHICH WERE INVESTIGATED WITH THE IDEA…

This preschool program offered a highly structured curriculum in which language development was fostered through encouraging verbal responses in a game format context. The curriculum, based on skills and concepts required for success in elementary school, included language arts, reading readiness, mathematical concepts, science, and social…

This report describes and evaluates a sequential Learning to Learn Program (L.L.P.) for four- and five-year-old children. The long-term plan was for these children to be kept in a continuous sequential program through the first grade. Since another aspect of this project is a systematic attempt to learn how differing lengths of exposure to the…

IN PHASE I (OF THREE) OF A RESEARCH PROJECT, 475 SOUTHERN DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN (RANGING IN AGE FROM 3 TO 6) WERE TESTED IN AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE DESCRIPTION, DEVELOPMENT, AND SEQUENCING OF COGNITIVE ABILITIES DESIGNED TO YIELD INFORMATION ON CHILDREN'S LEARNING WITH IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND CURRICULUMS. COGNITIVE TASKS WERE SELECTED…

This annotated bibliography lists publications of the Wisconsin Cognitive Learning program components, materials printed for the various curriculum projects, materials sold through the center document service, and materials published for the completed projects. Within each component or project grouping, the research publications are alphabetically…

This study investigated whether young, poor, inner-city children are deficient in the mathematical skills and concepts necessary for later success in school arithmetic. Children of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten age, black or white, and lower class or middle class, were given a wide variety of mathematical tasks, including Piagetian measures,…

THE EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT OF 3,635 STUDENTS FROM EDUCATIONALLY DEPRIVED SCHOOLS WAS COMPARED WITH STUDENTS ATTENDING SCHOOLS WHERE HIGHER SOCIO-ECONOMIC LEVELS PREVAILED. RESULTS REVEALED SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WITH REGARD TO (1) LANGUAGE ARTS, (2) READING ACHIEVEMENT, (3) AREAS OTHER THAN LANGUAGE ARTS AND READING (ARITHMETIC AND PROBLEM…

This collection of research reports explores teaching cognitive skills to at-risk students. Focus includes the following: (1) broad issues guiding the research; (2) historical perspective; (3) student characteristics; (4) student needs; (5) research on teaching thinking and problem solving; (6) teacher training; and (7) instructional and…