Cover -- Half Title Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Original Title Page -- Original Copyright Page -- Contents -- Foreword -- 1 Background to the Study -- Introduction -- The Causes of Underachievement -- Relative Influence of Social Class, Ethnic Group, and Sex on Test Scores -- The Relationship Between Ethnic Group, Social Class, Sex, and Underachievement -- School Influences on Attainment in General -- Our Own Research Approach -- 2 Our Research -- Introduction -- Our Research Design -- Attainment and Progress -- 3 The Project Schools: Approaches to Teaching and to Parents -- Nursery Education -- Infant Education -- The Project Infant Schools -- Summary -- 4 The Project Schools: Observation of the Children -- The Top-infant School Day -- Time-sampling Observations of Classroom Learning Time -- Sex and Ethnic Differences in Classroom Behaviour and Interaction -- Summary -- 5 The Parents' Role in Infant Schooling -- The Parent Sample -- The Involvement of Parents in their Children's Schooling -- The Children's Experiences of Reading, Writing, and Maths at Home -- The Parent's Educational Beliefs and Attitudes -- Parent-school Relationships -- Summary -- 6 School Attainment and Progress: Ethnic Group, Sex, and School Effects -- End of Nursery -- Infant School -- Attainments at the End of the First Year of Junior School -- School Differences -- Correlations Between Tests -- Summary -- 7 Factors at Home Associated with Children's Pre-school Skills and Their LaterSchool Progress -- Factors at Home Related to Children's Pre-school Skills -- Factors at Home Related to Children's Progress Through Infant School -- Summary -- 8 Factors at School Affecting Progress and Attainment -- Teachers' Judgements About Children -- Children's Behaviour Problems at Infant School -- Curriculum Coverage in Reading, Writing, and Maths