A PRESCHOOL EXPERIENCE WAS PROVIDED FOR LOWER-INCOME NEGRO CHILDREN, AND THEN THEIR GAINS OR LOSSES IN IQ AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION WERE EVALUATED IN TERMS OF THE TYPE OF THE TEACHING METHOD USED. THIRTY LOWER-INCOME NEGRO CHILDREN AND 17 MIDDLE-INCOME NEGRO AND WHITE CHILDREN WERE SEPARATED INTO THREE GROUPS AND EXPOSED TO THREE TEACHING METHODS. CLASS ONE WAS UNINTEGRATED (ALL LOWER-INCOME NEGRO CHILDREN) AND NON-MONTESSORIAL IN METHODOLOGY. IT WAS THE MOST UNRESTRICTED IN TERMS OF TEACHER CONTROL. CLASS TWO AS INTEGRATED AND NON-MONTESSORIAL, BUT TEACHER CONTROL AND RESTRICTION WAS MORE EVIDENT. CLASS THREE WAS INTEGRATED AND MONTESSORIAL. THE PUPILS HERE WERE THE MOST DISCIPLINED AND CONTROLLED. A THOROUGH STUDY WAS MADE OF THESE CLASSROOM PROCEDURES, TEACHING TECHNIQUES, AND PUPIL ACTIVITIES. THE RESULTS OF THE STANFORD-BINET INTELLIGENCE TESTS SHOWED NO SIGNIFICANT IQ GAIN AMONG THE GROUPS OR WITHIN A GROUP FROM TEST ONE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHT WEEK SUMMER SESSION TO TEST TWO AT THE END OF THE SESSION. BUT INDIVIDUAL GAINS APPEARED. THESE WERE FOUND TO BE AN INVERSE FUNCTION OF DISTRACTIBILITY. A WINTER PRE-SCHOOL SESSION, WITH NEW PUPILS AND USING ONLY THE MONTESSORI METHOD, RESULTED IN IQ GAINS. THIS WAS ATTRIBUTED TO AN IMPROVED CLASSROOM ATMOSPHERE. IN GENERAL, THE SESSIONS DID INCREASE THE CHILDREN'S READINESS TO BEGIN SCHOOL WORK AND HELPED THEM TO GAIN SOCIAL CONFIDENCE. ENCOURAGING PARENTAL INTEREST AND PARTICIPATION WAS A COLLATERAL ASPECT OF THE PROGRAMS. (WD)