Contributions of Classroom Engagement and Exposure to Math Content on Preschoolers' Math Performance

Abstract

Children's early math skills are one of the strongest predictors of later academic success, yet many preschools dedicate relatively minimal time to fostering math skill development. Children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds tend to enter school with weaker math skills than peers and continue to lag behind more affluent peers throughout elementary and secondary school. The current study a) explored the amount of exposure to math content that children receive in preschool (both observed and teacher-reported), and b) examined children's engagement with tasks, the quantity of exposure to math content, and the quality of instructional support as potential factors that may contribute to changes in children's math performance across the preschool year. The sample consisted of 380 preschool children from primarily low-income families. Controlling for child characteristics (e.g., sex, age, race, SES) and classroom factors (e.g., teacher education, years of teaching experience), children's engagement with tasks emerged as a strong predictor of positive changes in math performance across the preschool year. Independently, neither exposure to math content nor instructional support significantly predicted changes in children's math performance. However, the pairing of high-quantity exposure to math content and high-quality instructional support was associated with significant positive changes in children's math performance across the preschool year.