Preschool Mathematics Intervention Can Significantly Improve Student Learning Trajectories Through Elementary School

• In Event: Supporting Early Learning in Mathematics

Abstract

Here, the authors use a relatively novel statistical framework, Dynamic Measurement Modeling, that takes both intra- and inter-individual student differences across time into account, to demonstrate that while students who receive a short-term intervention in preschool may not differ from a control group in terms of their long-term mathematics outcomes at the end of elementary school, they do exhibit significantly steeper growth curves as they approach their eventual skill-level. In addition, this significant improvement of learning rate in elementary school benefited minority (i.e., Black or Latinx) students most, highlighting the critical societal need for research-based mathematics curricula in preschool.

Authors

• Denis Dumas, University of Denver

• Daniel McNeish, Arizona State University

• Douglas H. Clements, University of Denver

• Julie Sarama, University of Denver