The paper investigates the problem of placement of minority group or low socioeconomic status children classified as mentally retarded in special classes. Summarized are four basic models outlined by Robert Hess et al. (1971) used to account for the discrepancies in intellectual attainment between minority groups and the dominant culture: the deficit model, school-as failure model, cultural difference model, and social structure model. The author presents information on outcomes of his 10 years of work in the early education of children diagnosed at age 3 years as functionally retarded and in the educable mentally retarded range. Two major issues were focused upon in the research: the long term impact of preschool education on later school performance, and relative impact of preschool education when differing educational procedures on models are employed. Results showed that the preschool experience enabled the children to better proceed through elementary school at regular grade level without retention or special classes. It was also concluded that style of curriculum had no differential effect on subsequent academic achievement. (KW)