Poster #125 - Generalizability of the Effectiveness of a Preschool Mathematics Intervention for Low-SES Turkish Children

• In Event: Poster Session 13

Abstract

A SES-related achievement gap in mathematics emerges in children from many countries prior to school entry. This gap persists in primary school and imposes challenges on primary education systems worldwide. In response, the United Nations’ sustainable development goals include universal access to quality pre-primary (preschool) education to support universal numeracy. This study tested the generalizability of the effectiveness of an early mathematics intervention for low-SES Turkish preschool children (33 boys, 27 girls; M age=4.32). The design is a randomized controlled trial in which clusters of preschool classrooms in schools were randomly assigned to the treatment condition (Pre-K Mathematics) or the business-as-usual control condition (existing classroom curriculum), for a total of 3 treatment and 3 control classrooms. Participants included six pre school teachers (three treatment teachers and three control teachers) and ten children from each classroom (N=60). A curricular intervention, Pre-K Mathematics, was implemented for the purpose of mathematically enriching children’s preschool and home learning environments (Klein et al., 2002). Treatment teachers added this curriculum to their existing set of classroom curricula. Control teachers were directed not to alter their mathematics practices or curricular choices from business as usual. The Child Math Assessment (CMA; Klein & Starkey, 2004b; Milburn, et al., 2019; Starkey & Klein, 2012) was translated into Turkish (Karakuş & Akman, 2022) and used to determine the impact of the intervention on children’s mathematical knowledge. The CMA measures preschool children’s informal mathematical knowledge across a broad range of concepts and skills that research has shown are developing at this age, including number, arithmetic operations, space and geometry, informal measurement, and pattern knowledge. The CMA provides a composite score, is appropriate for children from three to five years of age and is administered individually to children. Assessments were administered individually with children in a quiet room at children’s schools. The pretest assessment was conducted prior to the beginning of implementation of the intervention. The post-test was conducted after teachers completed implementation of all math activities. The training provided to teachers was sufficient for them to implement Pre-K Mathematics with a high degree of fidelity. Also, parents reported that they regularly used the home activities. With these necessary conditions met, it was possible to evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum. Child assessments revealed that gains in mathematical knowledge were significantly greater for treatment children who were provided the curriculum than for control children who were not. This was found for each of the sub-domains of mathematical knowledge as well as overall. Thus, children’s gains were mathematically broad. A statistically significant positive impact was found at post-test for the CMA (Cohen’s d ES = 1.32). This indicates some generalizability of the intervention, and therefore a feasible approach to reach the UN goal.

Note:This study is part of the first author's doctoral thesis.

Authors

• Hilal KARAKUŞ, Sinop University
  Presenting Author

• Prentice Starkey, WestEd

• Berrin Akman, Hacettepe University