The Consortium for Longitudinal Studies was formed to answer the question of whether early education programs have measurable long term effects on the performance of children from low income families. Every early intervention study that had a specific curriculum, focused on children from low income families, was completed prior to l969, and had an original sample in excess of 100 subjects was invited to join the consortium. The investigators of all but 1 of the 15 eligible studies accepted the invitation. In return for funding to locate and retest the original subjects, researchers agreed to pool their data for an analysis of findings across all studies. This volume presents the results of the individual longitudinal studies and the pooled study results. Chapter 1 is entitled"History and Background of Preschool Intervention Programs and the Consortium for Longitudinal Studies" (Sandra Condry). Chapters 2 through 12, project reports by individual research groups, are entitled and authored as follows: "The Early Training Project 1962-1980" (Susan Gray, Barbara K. Ramsey, and Rupert A. Klaus); "The Effects of the Perry Preschool Program on Youths through Age 15" (Lawrence J. Schweinhart and David Weikart); "The Gordon Parent Education Infant and Toddler Program" (R. Emile Jester and Barry J. Guinagh); "A Comparison of Five Approaches for Educating Young Children from Low-Income Homes" (Merle B. Karnes, Allan M. Shwedel, and Mark B. Williams); "The Louisville Experiment: A Comparison of Four Programs (Louise B. Miller and Rondeall P. Bizzell); "The Harlem Study: Effects by Type of Training, Age of Training, and Social Class" (Francis H. Palmer); "The Mother-Child Home Program of the Verbal Interaction Project" (Phyllis Levenstein, John O'Hara, and John Madden); "The Micro-Social Learning Environment: A Strategy for Accelerating Learning" (Myron Woolman); "Long-Term Effects of Projects Head Start and Follow Through: The New Haven Project" (Victoria Seitz, Nancy H. Apfel, Laurie K. Rosenbaum, and Edward Zigler); "The Philadelphia Study: The Impact of Preschool on Intellectual and Socioemotional Development" (E. Kuno Beller); and "The IDS Program: An Experiment in Early and Sustained Enrichment" (Martin Deutsch, Cynthia P. Deutsch, Theresa J. Jordan, and Richard Grallo). Chapter 13 presents a report entitled "Pooled Analyses: Findings across Studies" (Jacqueline M. Royce, Richard B. Darlington, and Harry W. Murray). Chapter 14 is entitled "Discussion and Implications of the Findings" (Irving Lazar). An epilogue by Lois-ellin Datta discusses the results in terms of education policy recommendations. (CB)