As part of a national evaluation of Head Start, a comparison of school readiness and childhood development approaches to preschool education was attempted, but major methodological problems were encountered. It was not possible to find the study samples called for in the original plan, i.e. a child-readiness program of the Bereiter-Engelmann type, and a child development program that was a suitable example. A compromise selection of two Head Start centers included one that was child development-oriented, and one that had a modified Montessori program. A comparison sample was selected from a middle class child development-oriented private nursery school. The children were pre- and posttested on measures of cognitive skills, curiosity, self-concept, and spontaneous language. Individual child observations were also made. However, the original data collection plan was severely curtailed because of lack of time and testing space. The results of the study are not definitive but indicate that the middle class children were more able to benefit in demonstrable ways from a year of preschool education. However, the private program was judged to be of much better quality than the Head Start programs in the study. (NH)