 The show 's research staff and producers conducted regularly @-@ scheduled internal reviews and seminars to ensure that their curriculum goals were being met and to guide future production . As of 2001 , ten seminars had been conducted specifically to address the literacy needs of preschool children . Curriculum seminars prior to Sesame Street 's 33rd season in 2002 resulted in a change from the show 's magazine @-@ like format to a more narrative format . There have been over 1 @,@ 000 studies as of 2001 which examine the show 's impact on children 's learning and attention . Most of these studies were conducted by the CTW and remain unpublished . The most important studies that found negative effects of Sesame Street were conducted by educator Herbert A. Sprigle and psychologist Thomas D. Cook during its first two seasons . Both studies found that the show increased the educational gap between poor and middle @-@ class children . Morrow reported that these studies had little impact on the public discussion about Sesame Street . Another criticism was made by journalist Kay Hymowitz in 1995 , who reported that most of the positive research conducted on the show has been done by the CTW , and then sent to a sympathetic press . She charged that the studies conducted by the CTW " hint at advocacy masquerading as social science " . 
