THE 1965 HEAD START PSYCHOLOGICAL SCREENING PROGRAM. FINAL REPORT ON THE DATA ANALYSIS / K. WARNER SCHAIE.

THE SCREENING PROGRAM HAD TWO PURPOSES. (1) IT WAS TO BE USED TO DETECT CHILDREN WITH UNUSUALLY SEVERE EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS AND CHILDREN WHO, BECAUSE OF THEIR SUSPECTED RETARDATION IN INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT, MIGHT NEED SPECIAL EDUCATION FACILITIES. THE DATA FOUND WERE TO BE USED TO IMPLEMENT EARLY DETECTION AND REMEDIAL PROGRAMS. (2) IT WAS TO PROVIDE SOME MEASURES OF COGNITIVE AND PERSONALITY CHANGES WHICH MIGHT BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE EFFECT OF THE ENRICHMENT PROCEDURES USED AS PART OF THE 1965 HEAD START PROGRAM. THE CHOSEN TESTS WERE LIMITED TO THOSE WHICH COULD BE SCORED OBJECTIVELY, WERE SIMPLE TO ADMINISTER, AND WERE SCORED, TABULATED, ANALYZED, AND INTERPRETED BY SOME AUTOMATED MEANS, BECAUSE FEW EXAMINERS HAD PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE IN ADMINISTERING PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS. EXAMINATIONS WERE CONDUCTED IN APPROXIMATELY 1300 HEAD START CLASSES. SEVEN TO EIGHT WEEKS LATER, ALL TESTS WERE REPEATED WITH APPROXIMATELY ONE-THIRD OF THE CHILDREN. THE CULTURE FAIR INTELLIGENCE TEST INDICATES AN AVERAGE IQ OF 104.9 FOR THE WHOLE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA. HEAD START CHILDREN AT AGE SIX SEEMED TO BE AT AN AVERAGE INTELLECTUAL LEVEL WHICH WAS NOT SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW THEIR MIDDLE-CLASS PEERS. THE COLOR PYRAMID TEST SUGGESTS HIGH INCIDENCE IN THE HEAD START GROUP OF SUSPECTED AUTISTIC THINKING, DEPRESSION AND ASOCIAL BEHAVIOR, CURRENT EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE, EMOTIONAL RETARDATION, AND EXTREME ACTING-OUT BEHAVIOR. ASSESSMENT OF CHANGE PRODUCED BY THE 1965 HEAD START PROGRAM IS RELATIVELY INCONCLUSIVE. (MANY TABLES ARE INCLUDED.) (EF)

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