302 PROMOTING POTENTIAL
scales; or observational checklists in homes, schools, peer groups, and
neighborhoods. A major aim has been to identify, from correlations with
test scores, pos si ble targets for future interventions (with the assumption
that the correlations might be causal).
Th e best examples of smaller- scale research are those using the Home
Observation for Mea sure ment of the Environment (HOME) scale. As
stated on the inventory website, it “is designed to mea sure the quality and
quantity of stimulation and support available to a child in the home en-
vironment. Th e focus is on the child... as a recipient of inputs from
objects, events, and transactions occurring in connection with the family
surroundings.”^22 Th ese “inputs”— including factors like parental respon-
siveness and encouragement; quality of parent- child interactions; and
provision of toys, games, and books— are assessed during short visits and
recorded on checklists.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, associations between such mea sures and the
children’s IQs or school attainments have been reported. Family income,
parental education, and neighborhood loom large as associated factors.
Accordingly, a big factor is socioeconomic status (SES), usually defi ned
in terms of parents’ occupational level or income. It is reported that, a mong
other things, children in lower SES homes have lower relative access to
books, games, educational activities, and musical instruments. Th eir
homes are also oft en reported to be crowded, noisy, disor ga nized, and
unkempt. Th e children’s parents are also less likely to read to them or talk
to them, and then within narrow ranges of vocabulary and grammar. So
these children tend to experience less teaching of school readiness con-
cepts, such as the alphabet, number concepts, colors, and shapes.
Confi rming this general picture are the rather radical environmental
changes experienced by adoption in childhood. When this is done from
low- to high- SES homes, huge leaps in IQ test scores and school achieve-
ment are observed (see chapter 3). With such broad environmental cate-
gories, however, it has not generally been easy to establish clear causal
pictures: for example, what is it really about SES that retards or promotes
test per for mances and school attainments? I return to this question later.
Th e other main research strategy consists of large- scale surveys and
the national longitudinal studies in several countries. Th ey include, in the
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