Abecedarian Early Intervention Project

The Abecedarian Early Intervention Project was carried out in 1972 in North Carolina , USA by the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. It should support children from socially disadvantaged families in their development. The majority of children were raised by single mothers living on welfare , 98% of whom were African American .

The children attended kindergarten from early infancy to the age of three . Here they were encouraged through educational games that were put together individually for each child according to a plan. The children were looked after by educators . One skilled worker supported two children in infancy, and five shortly before they started school. In addition, attention was paid to the healthy diet of the children and to the fact that they were vaccinated.

evaluation

The development of the children was compared with the development of the children from a control group. The children in the control group were raised by mothers of comparable socio-economic status and came from the same neighborhoods.

The following could be determined:

• The children who took part in the project were more intelligent than the children from the control group at the age of 21 (4.4 points for the total IQ , 4.2 points for the verbal IQ).
• They attended or had attended college more often (36% vs. 14%)
• They were more often skilled workers (47% vs. 27%)
• They were less likely to be teenage parents (26% vs. 45%)

criticism

It is criticized that the groups were too small. A total of 112 children took part in the project. 57 children were encouraged and 54 children were the control group.

Web links

• Description of the project (English) ( Memento of 30 July 2012 at the Internet Archive )
• detailed description ( Memento from March 15, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 93 kB)
• Description of the project (English) ( Memento of 26 April 2012 at the Internet Archive )
• Early Learning, Later Success: The Abecedarian Study ( Memento from April 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 187 kB)

See also

• compensatory education

Individual evidence

1. ^ A Benefit Cost Analysis of the Abecedarian Early Childhood Intervention ( Memento from March 15, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 95 kB) Download on December 9, 2007
2. ↑ Abecedarian Project (High-quality child care / preschool for children from disadvantaged backgrounds) ( Memento from March 12, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Download on December 9, 2007