Once over the age of three, children continue to expand on existing knowledge of the world. It is generally acknowledged that young people from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds tend to do less well in our education system. That’s observed not just in New Zealand, but also in

　　Australia, Britain and America. In an attempt to overcome that educational underachievement,anationwide program called ‘Headstart’ was launched in the United States in 1965. A lot of money was poured into it. It took children into preschool institutions at the age of three and was supposed to help the children of poorer families succeed in school.

　　Despite substantial funding, results have been disappointing. It is thought that there are two explanations for this. First, the program began too late. Many children who entered it at the age of

　　three were already behind their peers in language and measurable intelligence. Second, the parents were not involved. At the end of each day, ‘Headstart’ children returned to the same disadvantaged home environment.

　　As a result of the growing research evidence of the importance of the first three years of a child’s life and the disappointing results from ‘Headstart’, a pilot program was launched in

　　Missouri in the US that focused on parents as the child’s first teachers. The ‘Missouri’ program was predicated on research showing that working with the family, rather than bypassing the parents, is the most effective way of helping children get off to the best possible start in life. The fouryear pilot study included 380 families who were about to have their first child and who represented a crosssection of socioeconomic status, age and family configurations (結構). They included singleparent and twoparent families, families in which both parents worked, and families with either the mother or father at home. The program involved trained parent educators visiting the parents’ home and working with the parent, or parents, and the child. Information on child development, and guidance on things to look for and expect as the child grows were provided, plus guidance in fostering the child’s intellectual, language, social and motorskill development. Periodic checkups of the child’s educational and sensory development (hearing and vision) were made to detect possible handicaps that interfere with growth and development. Medical problems were referred to professionals.

　　Parenteducators

　　made personal visits to homes and monthly group meetings were held with other new parents to share experience and discuss topics of interest. Parent resource centers, located in school buildings, offered learning materials for families and facilities for child.

　　At the age of three, the children who had been involved in the ‘Missouri’ program were evaluated alongside a crosssection of children selected from the same range of socioeconomic backgrounds and family situations, and also a random sample of children that age. The results were phenomenal. By the age of three, the children in the program were significantly more advanced in language development than their peers, had made greater strides in problem solving and other intellectual skills, and were further along in social development. In fact, the average child on the program was performing at the level of the top 15 to 20 per cent of their peers in such things as auditory comprehension, verbal ability and language ability.