The relationship between piagetian cognitive development, mental test performance, and academic achievement in high-risk students with and without early educational experience

Abstract

The effects of early educational intervention upon socioeconomically disadvantaged children's attainment of the cognitive stage of concrete operations was assessed using the Concept Assessment Kit-Conservation (CAK). The test was administered longitudinally to 86 low-SES children at ages 5,6, and 7, and to random cross-sectional samples of more advantaged classmates at the same ages. Low-SES children who had early educational intervention developed the ability to conserve earlier than those without intervention, the order of difficulty for the different concepts was similar in all groups. The proportion of nonconservers in the low-SES intervention group did not differ significantly from that of their more advantaged peers in the first and third years in early elementary school, but low-SES Control children were more likely to be nonconservers. Scores on the CAK were significantly correlated with those on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Childre-Revised; correlations with the Verbal IQ were higher than those with Performance IQ. The CAK improved prediction of mathematics achievement above that possible with the WISC-R alone, but did not improve prediction for reading.