This study investigated the effectiveness of an intervention year prior to kindergarten for at-risk children age-eligible for school. The central question of the study asked if the experience of a developmental kindergarten was worth the extra year participating children must spend in the educational process. The format for the study was that of a three-way analysis of variance, with three groups of at-risk children: developmental kindergarten students (DK); retained students (RT); and students who were not retained (NRT). Children were placed in either the developmental or academic kindergarten on the basis of test placement results. Results indicated that there were significant program effects in favor of the DK students for all three academic outcome measures when comparing the DK students with the RT students, indicating probable program effects in those measures for the developmental kindergarten program. Three self-perception measures were significant for DK students when they were paired with the RT students: school ability, school behavior, and global self-worth. Results indicated significant probable program effects for and strong effect sizes for the children, specifically white and female children who attended developmental kindergarten. Those effects were present in all academic subject areas, in work/study habits, and for self-perceptions of scholastic ability. (Six tables of data and a figure are included.) (MG)