Presuppositions and relation of cognitive functions in a schoolreadiness curriculum

The schoolreadiness curriculum by Dumont and Kok (1973) is a Dutch adaptation of the curriculum by Connor and Talbot (1966). It contains presuppositions about the teachers’ diagnostic skills and about the sequence of 5 different levels of functions and behaviours. The latter two were tested for 13 cognitive functions, e.g. Visual Perception, Number Concept, etc. The presuppositions about the teachers’ diagnostic skills could not be denied. They judged the cognitive levels of pupils who were, according to an objective measuring device for schoolreadiness, classified as «not» and «questionably» schoolready to be significantly lower than pupils who were classified as «schoolready». The presupposition about the sequence of levels received little support. Three out of 13 functions revealed this sequence. The relation between the functions was explored. Substantial correlations between all functions in two samples of subjects suggested a general memory or attention factor. Correlations within and between groups of functions suggested two specific factors, a quantitative-relational and a spatial orientation factor.