The contents of this book are organized in three main sections: Part 1, "Beginnings," includes three papers: "Some sociological determinants of perception,""A public language: some sociological implications of a linguistic form," and "Language and social class." Part 2, "Developments," includes four papers: "A review of 'The Lore and Language of…

Are children intellectually impaired as a result of low birth weight and does relative impairment change as children grow older? Premature infants from a range of socioeconomic groups were studied in five rounds over 13 years to provide neurological, psychological, achievement, and sociological data on 582 children in three birth weight groups. A…

The basic education program designed by Method of Intellectual Development (MIND) Inc., was used with two samples of adults in an attempt to update their basic skills quickly and economically in a non-school environment. The two samples consisted of: 23 unemployed and underemployed males; and 24 females. Ages ranged from 17-24 years. The two…

To provide a personalized curriculum and to test certain hypotheses concerning vocational students, the Hudson School System has been operating an experimental vocational education project. This 4-year project has now been absorbed into the regular school program and has been extended to a cooperative vocational education program with neighboring…

A Piagetian preschool emphasizes the child's active construction of mental images rather than passive association of words and pictures with real objects. The role of the teacher is neither to dictate good behavior nor to transmit ready-made predigested knowledge. Her role is to help the child to control his own behavior and to find things out as…

The objectives of this study were to determine: the differences among three positional levels within a large publicly-supported organization toward perception of the norms of the organization; the influence that certain personal and environmental factors have on this perception; and the nature of the reactions to organizational norms which may be…

This publication reviews research related to the effects of school desegregation on the academic achievement and self-concept of white students, and non-Negro minorities, and on race relations within the community. Separate chapters are devoted to the Riverside School Study, a 5-year school desegregation program with extensive evaluation and…

To produce and evaluate a language development program for culturally deprived preschool children based on characteristics of Piaget's theory of intelligence, a 6-week experimental study was carried out in Project Headstart, Starkville, Mississippi. Randomly-selected, 45 Negro Headstart enrollees made up three groups--two were taught the…

The nature and specification of goals in teaching a group of concepts affect the type and quality of learning. What is learned is learned as a means to some end. Feedback from end to means regulates learning a given activity. The task or goal structure provided by the environment may play its most important role early in life and gradually decline…

This program provided small groups of educationally disadvantaged children with language stimulation in an attempt to increase IQ and language ability. The children were all Negro first-graders, ranging in age from six years one month to eight years two months, enrolled in the only elementary school in Auburn with all-Negro students. The…

Specific questions that parents ask and answers to them are presented on the following areas of mental retardation: categories and terminology; causes; diagnosis and referral; mental age and IQ; problems and adjustments in family relationships; behavior of the retarded child; speech; schooling; parent organizations; sex education;…

The Perry Preschool Project in Ypsilanti, Michigan, is structured so that a group of disadvantaged 3-year-old Negro children begin a 2-year preschool program each year. The program was originally very verbal-learning oriented but has recently been modified to make use of Piaget's cognitive development theories. From the beginning of the program…

Operation Second Chance trained school dropouts for vocational skills in three areas in North Carolina--the mountainous West, the Piedmont plains, and the coastal farmlands. Length of the training varied from the six weeks nurses' aide program to the 12-week sewing for upholstery program through the 16-week carpentry, upholstery, welding,…

Research in Palo Alto, California, is attempting to discover distinguishing characteristics of educationally handicapped children (EH) and to clarify the causes of their learning disabilities. 76 EH children and their 76 same sex siblings (EH sibs) were matched with 76 academically successful students (SA) and their same siblings (SA sibs).…

Research data consistently demonstrates that white school children score higher on tests of academic ability than Negro children of the same age and grade level, and that this discrepancy increases with time. Is this discrepancy due to a lack of learning proficiency on the part of Negro children or to a lack of learning opportunity? In an attempt…