Intervention Fadeout and Factors Influencing Growth in Early Mathematics Performance in a Sample of Low-Performing Pre-K Students

Abstract

Foundations in early math skills like counting and magnitude comparison can set students up for success. Children who have low math knowledge early on may be at risk for struggling with math in later grades. Data from from a large intervention study in pre-K children (N = 541) from low-income backgrounds who were identified as having very few math skills at the beginning of pre-K were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression and latent growth curve modeling to examine: (a) intervention persistence one school year after intervention concludes; (b) mathematical development from pre-K to kindergarten in students with low math knowledge; (c) the role of executive functions (EF) (i.e., sustained attention, working memory, and inhibition) in predicting both initial status and growth in math; and (d) how intensive math interventions and a math intervention with a combined cognitive training may change developmental math trajectories from in these students. Overall findings suggest that intervention effects are no longer significant at delayed posttest. Further, participation in the math intervention or math and attention training intervention did not change math growth trajectories or relations between EF factors and math development. The overall math development growth model was linear, and children who started higher in mathematics at pre-K grew at a faster rate. There was also significant variability around both initial status and growth factors. Examination of cognitive and other predictors of both initial status and growth showed that inhibition, WM, attention, and age predicted initial status in mathematics achievement. WM, attention, state of residence, and gender predicted growth in mathematics into kindergarten.