ABSTRACT
In a number of tests of neo-structural theory, a synchronous pattern of development has been found: The majority of children have been shown to function at the same cognitive-developmental substage, or to evidence asynchronies in functioning of only one substage, on tests that measure two or more central conceptual structures, or two or more basic capacities on whose presence these structures depend (Case, Marini, et al., 1986; Case, Griffin, McKeough, & Okamoto, chapter 15; Crammond, this volume, chapter 16). As Crammond (chapter 16) has pointed out, however, this pattern of results could be an artifact of the selection process. In most of the studies that have been conducted, teachers have been asked to provide the experimenter with children of average to above-average intelligence. It could be that a synchronous pattern of development is not typical of the population in general, but only of children who are judged to be of typical or average intelligence by classroom teachers.
