"The Development of Cognitive and Academic Abilities, Growth Curves From an Early Childhood Educational Experiment" by Campbell (2001). The purpose of this article was to present findings from a randomized trial of the effects of the Abecedarian Project on cognitive and academic development in children.
The project participants were poor, minority children. The original sample included 111 participants and the follow-up included 104 participants. The sample was 98% African American, 59 girls and 52 boys, and all were born to low-income families. Children were randomly assigned to the treatment group and the control group. The treatment group participated in a project comprised of early educational treatment that was full-time, of high quality (eight hours per day, five days per week, for 50 weeks per year), and for children from infancy to age five; average infant age when entering the program was 4.4 months. Transportation was provided when needed. Low teacher:child ratios ranged from 1:3 to 1:6. Teachers received extensive in-service training. The curriculum promoted cognitive, language, perceptual-motor, and social development. Older children curriculum focused more on language development and preliteracy skills. Cognitive test scores were collected between the ages of three and 21 years. Academic test scores were collected from eight to 21 years of age.
Findings were that children showed higher scores on cognitive and academic tests with a moderate to large treatment effect size found through age 21 years. Preschool cognitive increases accounted for a large portion of treatment differences in reading and math skill development. It was concluded that the project resulted in long-lasting effects on cognitive and academic development.
The article provided a brief introduction to previous relevant literature to support the program. Information regarding the intervention was also limited. The methodology ...