In order to better understand the role of child-centered learning strategies in creating democratic, collaborative behaviors for states of the former Soviet Union, this study evaluated the impact of Step by Step, an early childhood development program in Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, and Ukraine. The study compared educational performance and developmental progress of preschoolers enrolled in the program with that of children in traditional kindergartens. The program's critical elements are family involvement, a child-centered curriculum, teachers as facilitators, and building collaborative relationship with important educational systems. Child assessment batteries were completed during May 1998 for 587 five- to seven-year-olds selected from 5 Step by Step programs and 5 traditional kindergartens in each country. Children were selected according to a stratified, randomized method with gender being the stratification criterion. Child assessment measures included the Test of Early Mathematics Ability; Emergent Literacy Assessment; Adapted Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test; and Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT). Findings for Bulgaria indicated that Step by Step children were performing at the same level as children in traditional programs. In Kyrgyzstan, Step by Step children dramatically outperformed those in traditional programs in both numeracy and literacy. In Romania, children in Step by Step classrooms from the low and high ends of the developmental spectrum were gaining more mathematical understanding than children in traditional programs and scored higher on the TTCT Unusual Uses test. In Ukraine, Step by Step children outperformed children in traditional programs in mathematics, the flexibility subscale of the TTCT, and receptive vocabulary. (KB)