A study assessed children's comprehension of Sesame Street programing that is designed to encourage socially valued behavior and whether the children relate the programing to their own living experiences. Material relating to four goal areas was tested: 1) entering social groups; 2) coping with failure; 3) coping with basic emotions; and 4) sex role stereotyping. Some 73 black, white and Spanish-speaking children who were enrolled in Head Start Centers in inner city areas of Springfield and Holyoke, Massachusetts, were the viewers and respondents in the study. In general, the children's comprehension of the social goals material was good. About one third of the children seemed to be able to answer open-ended questions about most of the material without prompting. Another large proportion of the children appeared to be the least able to recognize the correct answers to questions when they were read lists of multiple choice alternatives which served as prompts. There were no striking differences in the responses of the male vs. female children or the black vs. white children. All of the children were attentive or very attentive to the program segments and appeared to enjoy themselves. Although older children performed significantly better than younger children on some questions, this finding did not occur consistently. (HAB)