Veracity and vicissitude: A critical look at the Milwaukee project

Recent publication of the long-awaited final report of the controversial but widely heralded Milwaukee Project prompts scrutiny of the project and the report itself. After massive early intervention efforts with 17 black children at risk for mental retardation, follow-up assessment at ages 12 and 14 reveals a difference of fewer than 10 IQ points over the 18 control children. Reports in the 1970s had indicated average IQ gains of as much as 30 points. Reading achievement of experimental children was no better than for the controls, and although the experimental children enjoyed a significant advantage in mathematics achievement, they were functioning well below their measured potential. Numerous methodological problems, such as questionable equivalence experimental and control groups, confusion over subject attrition and replacement, normative obsolescence of assessment devices, and inadequate independent IQ assessment, all cast doubt on the validity of the project's results. The failure of the principal investigator, Howard Garber, to respond to methodological criticisms and questions regarding the impact of Rick Heber's criminal activities on the integrity of the project data does nothing to quell the cloud of suspicion surrounding the research. The Milwaukee Project provides no support for the hypothesis that early intervention for children at risk for mental retardation will result in meaningful and lasting changes in IQ or achievement.