ABSTRACT
The distinction between the performance of a particular act and the capability to perform that act is a commonsense distinction which may have profound consequences for assessment and attempts at improvements of the "deficits" of the culturally disadvantaged. The basic notion focused on in the process-achievement distinction is that a given outcome in behavior can be achieved by means of a variety of analagous processes. These processes may be ranked from developmentally more primitive to developmentally more advanced, although in restricted situations the behavioral outcomes may in fact be identical. The issues involved in the process-achievement distinction may be extended in terms of their implications for our notions of developmental change, and particularly for our notions of change induced by pre-school interventions. Children may improve "achievements" simply because developmentally primitive processes have been brought out. An appropriate model of developmental change must take into account the "transformational characteristics" of change.
