Task performance of black and white children across levels of presentation variability.

This study is an examination of the task performance patterns of Black and White, working and middle-class American children across a nonvaried and a varied presentation format condition: the relation of such patterns to activity levels in the home and to standardized achievement was also examined. Performance was better under the varied than the nonvaried format condition. This pattern held for all ethnic group/class combinations with the exception of Black middle-class children, for whom performance under the two conditions was virtually identical. Moreover, Black children, especially Black working-class children, reported greater home activity levels than did their White counterparts. Neither home activity level nor achievement was functionally related to patterns of performance.