Many U.S. students enter elementary school with poor math skills¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · design r1 · q2
Currency · newest study 2008 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2013: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Many U.S. students begin elementary school with weak mathematics skills, motivating curriculum evaluation efforts. → Roberto Agodini 2008

Evidence¶

Roberto Agodini 2008¶

Roberto Agodini, John Deke, Sally Atkins-Burnett, Barbara Harris, Robert Murphy. (2008). Design for the Evaluation of Early Elementary School Mathematics Curricula. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/design-for-the-evaluation-of-early-elementary-school-mathematics-curricula

q2 · i? · design · r1

The report opens with this assertion as background motivation for the curriculum evaluation. The article offers no statistic, effect size, or cited data for it in the text provided.

"Many U.S. students enter elementary school with poor math skills."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Students from poor families lag behind more affluent peers in early elementary math performance — related
• The curriculum evaluation was the second report from a multi-year (2005-2013) IES-funded study of mathematics curricula — related
• The early elementary math curriculum used by schools mattered for student achievement in first and second grade — related
• The study is the largest experimental-design study of multiple math curricula, covering 110 schools with this report based on the first cohort of 39 schools — related
• A large-scale experimental study compared the effects of the four mathematics curricula on student achievement — related
• A large-scale, rigorous study compared four elementary math curricula's effects on achievement across two years, first through second grade — related
• First-grade math achievement is significantly higher under Math Expressions and Saxon Math than under Investigations in Number, Data, and Space and Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics — related
• Many children enter kindergarten without the foundational mathematics skills needed to succeed — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• After two years, three of four elementary math curricula outperform a fourth in achievement across first and second grades — related
• Children from low-income families enter kindergarten one full standard deviation (15 standard score points) behind higher-income peers in literacy and mathematics (ECLS-K, attributed to Zill & West, 2001) — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Learning is effective when it builds on children's existing knowledge in real-world contexts, and early fraction foundations matter because many older children struggle with rational numbers — related