Early Numeracy Intervention for Low-Performing Kindergartners

Abstract

Early numeracy in kindergarten has proven to be a strong predictor of mathematical achievement. The aims of this study were to test the effectiveness of a remedial numeracy program for children who were low performing and to evaluate the role of visual and verbal working memory in the development of numeracy. The study included 196 kindergartners. Children with a pretest numeracy score falling below the 50th percentile were matched and randomly assigned to an intervention group and a control group. The intervention group obtained meaningful and statistically significantly higher adjusted outcome numeracy scores at the posttest stage than did the control group. This result, however, was not found among the group of children falling below the 25th percentile at the pretest stage. Verbal working memory, but not visual working memory, might best account for differences in the growth measured within the intervention group.