Questions We’re Asking
Question

Can early math instruction improve children’s academic success in later elementary school and beyond?

Why are we asking?
Making Pre-K Count (MPC) and High 5s are rooted in studies showing that preschoolers with strong early math skills do better in both math and reading in later elementary school. Children who maintain these math skills are more likely to graduate from high school and attend college. Thousands of children involved in the MPC study received a high-quality math education in pre-k. Kindergarten math clubs in High 5s aim to increase the likelihood that children will be able to maintain their early math gains into elementary school and beyond.

Working Toward a Solution

Report

Strengthening Children’s Math Skills with Enhanced Instruction

This project tested whether high-quality, aligned math instruction, via an evidence-based curriculum in pre-K and innovative math clubs in kindergarten, could improve children’s outcomes. The effect of two years of enriched math translates into closing more than a quarter of the achievement gap between low-income children and their higher-income peers.

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Podcast

Improving Children’s Math Skills

Early math ability is one of the best predictors of children’s math and reading skills into late elementary school. Children with stronger math proficiency in elementary school are then more likely to graduate from high school and attend college. MDRC wanted to know: What kinds of math programs can improve children’s early math abilities? And can they lead to positive impacts on other longer-term outcomes? Join Katie Beal as she talks to Shira Mattera, Research Associate at MDRC, and Robin Jacob, a Research Associate Professor at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, about the positive impacts of the Making Pre-K Count and High 5s demonstrations.

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Report

Launching Kindergarten Math Clubs

Small-group math clubs in kindergarten are an innovative way to align children’s elementary and pre-K math experiences. In a demonstration of the High 5s kindergarten supplement aligned with the principles of an evidence-based, developmentally appropriate pre-K curriculum, attendance and engagement were high, and children participated in hands-on, individualized activities.

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