Prentice Starkey

Most public preschool and kindergarten programs spend little time on mathematics. In addition, the mathematics curricula typically used in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten are not evidence-based, effective mathematics curricula and share two common design flaws. First, the content included is typically too broad and thus fails to systematically focus on building student understanding of key math content. Second, most curricula are not designed to address the specific mathematics instruction...

The primary purpose is to improve school readiness and subsequent achievement in math of students from low-income families. Low-income children enter kindergarten behind their middle-class peers in math knowledge. This gap in knowledge persists through high school. To work on addressing this issue, the investigators plan to examine the effectiveness of a pre-kindergarten mathematics intervention implemented at scale across two types of public preschool programs serving low-income children...

The goal of this project is to replicate the efficacy of an intensive Tier 2 math intervention, Pre-K Mathematics Tutorial (PKMT), for pre-k children at risk for mathematics difficulties, and compare the relative effectiveness of two delivery models (Pull-Out vs. In-Class) for implementing the intervention. Math difficulties occur early in childhood and are associated with negative long-term outcomes. PKMT is designed to address these difficulties by providing intensive instruction on a core...

In this implementation science project researchers and local public pre-kindergarten administrators and teachers worked as teams to improve teachers' implementation of a What Works Clearinghouse-reviewed curriculum, Pre-K Mathematics. Previous IES-funded research (see Related Projects below) has found this curriculum to be effective at improving low-income students' readiness for elementary school mathematics. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that some teachers, who have learned to implement...

There is a national need for effective interventions to improve school readiness and subsequent achievement in mathematics for students from low-income families. A socioeconomic gap in mathematical knowledge is present in U.S. children by three years of age. This gap widens over the preschool years. Recent intervention research has found that early mathematics enrichment can significantly enhance low-income children's mathematical knowledge. However, providing a math intervention for 4-ye...