Although a disproportionate number of children having difficulties in school come from families of impoverished socioeconomic backgrounds, it cannot be assumed that cultural deprivation causes school problems without specifying how, when, and why. The application of psychological and other social scientific techniques to investigate these matters and the use of the information to properly program compensatory education for the poor are being attempted by the Education Improvement Program in Durham, North Carolina. Three neighborhoods of the larger community of about 100,000 have been selected by the poverty authority as areas of greatest economic and social deprivation, two areas predominantly of Negro residents and one of mostly Caucasian. In these neighborhoods the poverty program has begun various social and economic interventions including day care centers for children. The plan has been to work primarily with samples of children in the three areas using classroom operations, but the program includes a social work component for gathering data about the home, liaison with parents about the school program, and referral of the family to social service resources as indicated. The goal of the program is to apply learning theory and sociological information to the problem of teaching the children to learn those social and cognitive skills necessary to educational achievement and to value such attainment. (JM)