Opportunities for Learning Math in Elementary School

Abstract

The present study examined whether multiple opportunities to learn math were associated with smaller socioeconomic status (SES) disparities in fifth-grade math achievement using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD; N = 1,364). High amounts of procedural math instruction were associated with higher calculation and conceptual math skills. Children’s conceptual math skills were also positively associated with high amounts of science instruction. Income × instruction interactions were nonsignificant, but maternal education × math instruction interactions revealed narrower disparities in calculation skills when children were exposed to greater amounts of time in procedural and conceptual math instruction. Overall, the findings indicate that instructional influences on early math learning operate similarly for low and high SES children.