Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword: The Essential Role of Youth Development by Robert H. Bruininks
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Early Childhood Development and Human Capital
- PART I PRENATAL AND INFANT PROGRAMS
- 2 WIC Turns 35: Program Effectiveness and Future Directions
- 3 The Nurse-Family Partnership: From Trials to Practice
- 4 Carolina Abecedarian Project
- 5 Early Head Start Impacts at Age 3 and a Description of the Age 5 Follow-Up Study
- PART II PRESCHOOL EDUCATION
- PART III KINDERGARTEN AND EARLY SCHOOL-AGE SERVICES AND PRACTICES
- PART IV ECONOMIC SYNTHESES OF EARLY CHILDHOOD INVESTMENTS
- Appendix Question-and-Answer Sessions
- Name Index
- Subject Index
- References
4 - Carolina Abecedarian Project
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword: The Essential Role of Youth Development by Robert H. Bruininks
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Early Childhood Development and Human Capital
- PART I PRENATAL AND INFANT PROGRAMS
- 2 WIC Turns 35: Program Effectiveness and Future Directions
- 3 The Nurse-Family Partnership: From Trials to Practice
- 4 Carolina Abecedarian Project
- 5 Early Head Start Impacts at Age 3 and a Description of the Age 5 Follow-Up Study
- PART II PRESCHOOL EDUCATION
- PART III KINDERGARTEN AND EARLY SCHOOL-AGE SERVICES AND PRACTICES
- PART IV ECONOMIC SYNTHESES OF EARLY CHILDHOOD INVESTMENTS
- Appendix Question-and-Answer Sessions
- Name Index
- Subject Index
- References
Summary
HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM/POLICY
The Abecedarian study was designed to learn the extent to which an early childhood intervention program might prevent progressive developmental retardation among children born into poverty. Forty years ago, cross-sectional examinations of the cognitive development of children from poor families indicated that their cognitive test scores tended to be within the average range in infancy, but that disproportionate declines occurred after that period (Ramey, 1971). A particularly striking cross-sectional graph charted this kind of progressive decline in intellectual test performance among children born to mothers who themselves had low IQs (Heber, Dever, & Conry, 1968). Because at that time no biologically based etiology for most cases of mild retardation had been identified, many scientists believed that early “social deprivation or environmental deprivation” was implicated in the development of this condition. It followed that intervening to improve the intellectual stimulus value of the environment might prevent or ameliorate the disorder.
Largely based on animal research, evidence mounted that early experience supported development in ways that were critical for later functioning (e.g., Hunt, 1961). More to the point, this line of reasoning was supported by human-subject research conducted by Skeels and his colleagues (1938) in which one group of infants reared within institutions showed dramatic gains in developmental abilities when they were given the kinds of affectionate attention and handling not experienced by others from the same orphanage.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Childhood Programs and Practices in the First Decade of LifeA Human Capital Integration, pp. 76 - 98Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
References
, & (2007). Comparative benefit-cost analysis of the Abecedarian program and its policy implications. Economics of Education Review, 26(1), 113–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1986). Ecology of the family as a context for human development: Research perspectives. Developmental Psychology, 22, 723–742.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , & (1995). Early child care and public school aggressiveness: An attempted replication study. Unpublished manuscript.
, , & (1989). Type of day care and preschool intellectual development in disadvantaged children. Child Development, 60, 128–137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , & (2002). The development of perceived scholastic competence and global self-worth in African American adolescents from low-income families: The roles of family factors, early educational intervention, and academic experience. Journal of Adolescent Research, 17, 277–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , , & (2001). The development of cognitive and academic abilities: Growth curves from an early childhood educational experiment. Developmental Psychology, 37, 231–242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, & (1995) Cognitive and school outcomes for high-risk African American students at middle adolescence: Positive effects of early intervention. American Educational Research Journal, 32(4), 743–772.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , , & . (2002). Early childhood education: Young adult outcomes from the Abecedarian Project. Applied Developmental Science, 6, 42–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , , , . (2008). Young adult outcomes from the Abecedarian and CARE early childhood educational interventions. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 23, 452–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
. (1992). Chronic disease and health promotion reprints from the MMWR. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
(1969). The impact of Head Start: An evaluation of the effects of Head Start on children's cognitive and affective development (Vol. 1). Athens, OH: Westinghouse Learning Corporation, Ohio University.Google Scholar
(1993). Brief Symptom Inventory: Administration, scoring and procedures manual. Minneapolis, MN: National Computer Systems.Google Scholar
, & . (1970). Peabody Individual Achievement Test. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
(1988). The Milwaukee Project: Prevention of mental retardation in children at risk. Washington, DC: American Association on Mental Retardation.Google Scholar
, , , & (2003). Family disruption in childhood and risk of adult depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 939–946.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , & (1982). From 3 to 20: The early training project. Baltimore, MD: University Park Press.Google Scholar
(1982). The perceived competence scale for children. Child Development, 53, 87–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1988). Manual for the self-perception profile for adolescents. Denver, CO: University of Denver.Google Scholar
(1985). Public school aggression among children with varying day-care experience. Child Development, 56, 689–703.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , & (1968). The influence of environmental and genetic variables on intellectual development. In , , & (Eds.), Behavioral research in mental retardation (pp. 1–23). Eugene: University of Oregon Press.Google Scholar
(n.d.). Four factor index of social status (Working paper, photocopied). New Haven, CT: Yale University, Department of Sociology.
, , , , & (1982). Lasting effects of early education: A report from the Consortium for Longitudinal Studies. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 47(2–3, Serial No. 195).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, & (2002). A benefit-cost analysis of the Abecedarian early childhood intervention. In & (Eds.), Cost-effectiveness and educational policy: 2002 Yearbook of the American Educational Finance Association (pp. 157–176). Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.Google Scholar
, , , & (2007). Depressive symptoms in young adults: The influences of the early home environment and early educational childcare. Child Development, 78, 746–756.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , & (2006). Poverty and early childhood education. Center for Poverty, Work and Opportunity: Policy Brief Series. Retrieved from http://www.law.unc.edu/povertycenter.
(1971). Carolina Abecedarian Project. Unpublished manuscript, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.Google Scholar
, & (1984). Preventive education for high-risk children: Cognitive consequences of the Carolina ABC [Special issue]. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 88(5), 515–523.Google Scholar
, & (1991). Poverty, early childhood education, and academic competence: The Abecedarian experiment. In (Ed.), Children in poverty: Child development and public policy (pp. 190–221). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
, , & (1982). Preventing developmental retardation: A general systems model. In & (Eds.), Facilitating infant and early childhood development (pp. 343–401). Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.Google Scholar
, , , & (1982). The Abecedarian approach to social competence: Cognitive and linguistic intervention for disadvantaged preschoolers. In (Ed.). The social life of children in a changing society. Hillsdale, NC: Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
, & (1977). Assessing the intellectual consequences of early intervention with high-risk infants. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 81, 318–324.Google ScholarPubMed
, , & (1977). Classroom Behavior Inventory. Unpublished manuscript. Available from Earl Schaefer, Department of Maternal and Child Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599.Google Scholar
, , ., & . (1938). A study of environmental stimulation: An orphanage preschool project. University of Iowa Studies in Child Welfare, 15, 7–19.Google Scholar
, & (1979). Learningames for the first three years: A guide to parent–child play. New York: Walker.Google Scholar
, & (1984). Learningames for threes and fours: A guide to adult and child play. New York: Walker.Google Scholar
, & (1972). Stanford-Binet intelligence scale: 1972 norms editions. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
(1967). Wechsler preschool and primary scale of intelligence. New York: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
(1978). Wechsler intelligence scale for children – revised. New York: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
(1981). Wechsler adult intelligence test – revised. Allen, TX: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
, & (1977). Woodcock-Johnson psycho-educational battery: Part 2: Tests of academic achievement. Boston: Teaching Resources Corporation.Google Scholar
- 8
- Cited by