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Overview1
Pre-K Mathematics is a supplemental curriculum designed to develop informal mathematical knowledge and skills in preschool children. Mathematical content is organized into seven units. Specific mathematical concepts and skills from each unit are taught in the classroom through teacher-guided, small-group activities with concrete manipulatives. Take-home activities with materials that parallel the small-group classroom activities are designed to help parents support their children's mathematical development at home.
Research
One study of Pre-K Mathematics met the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards and one study met the WWC evidence standards with reservations. 2 The studies included 430 preschool children at 39 Head Start and state-funded preschools in New York and California and examined intervention effects on children's math outcomes. This report focuses on immediate posttest findings to determine the effectiveness of the intervention. 3 The WWC considers the extent of evidence for Pre-K Mathematics to be medium to large for mathematics achievement. No studies that met WWC evidence standards with or without reservations addressed oral language, print knowledge, phonological processing, early reading/writing, or cognition.
Effectiveness
Pre-K Mathematics combined with DLM Early Childhood Express software (hereafter referred to as DLM Express) was found to have positive effects on mathematics achievement.
| Oral language | Print knowledge | Phonological processing | Early reading/ writing | Cognition | Math | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating of effectiveness | na | na | na | na | na | Positive effects |
| Improvement index4 | na | na | na | na | na | Average: +22 percentile points Range: +22 to +23 percentile points |
| na = not applicable | ||||||
Absence of conflict of interest
Pre-K Mathematics was developed in part by Dr. Alice Klein, the Principal Investigator for the WWC elementary school math topic review, and she receives royalties from sales of Pre-K Mathematics. In addition, Dr. Klein co-authored two of the studies reviewed for this WWC intervention report. Dr. Klein was not involved in the coding, reconciliation, or discussions of the included studies. Additionally, she was not involved in writing or reviewing the ECE intervention report on Pre-K Mathematics.
2 Both studies included an additional component with the Pre-K Mathematics intervention. The impact of the additional component—DLM Early Childhood Express software—cannot be separated from the impact of the Pre-K Mathematics curriculum. However, because DLM Early Childhood Express software can be used with Pre-K Mathematics, the WWC considers the information in this report to be useful for practitioners in search of a preschool mathematics curriculum. To be eligible for the WWC's review, the Early Childhood Education (ECE) intervention had to be implemented in English in center-based settings with children aged three to five or in preschool.
3 The evidence presented in this report is based on available research. Findings and conclusions may change as new research becomes available. Pre-K Mathematics is a part of the Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research (PCER) Grants administered through the U. S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. The final PCER reports were not released in time to be reviewed for this report.
4 These numbers show the average and range of student-level improvement indices for all findings across the study.
