Children's Mathematics Achievement Research Articles

‘Neighbourhood effects’ on children's educational achievement in Chile: The effects of inequality and polarization

This article studies the effects of the neighborhood in which a school is located on children's mathematics achievement in Chile. It uses data taken from a sample of 127,020 sixth grade students measured by the National Education Quality Measurement System [Sistema Nacional de Medición de la Calidad de la Educación]. The incorporation of a measurement of socio-economic polarization of the geographic environment, which is innovative in urban studies, allows us to qualify some critical aspects suggested in the academic discussion. A lagged dependent variable model is used, controlling for the score obtained by the same students in fourth grade. Using multilevel linear regressions, the results show positive effects related to participation in neighborhood organizations. One critical finding is that socio-economic polarization has a negative and significant impact on the educational achievement of sixth graders. The conclusions highlight the repercussions associated with acute inequalities in the neighborhoods, and speak to the importance of accessing dimensions which are more closely linked to cities' social structure.

Serial order working memory and numerical ordinal processing share common processes and predict arithmetic abilities.

Recent studies have demonstrated that both ordinal number processing and serial order working memory (WM) abilities predict calculation achievement. This raises the question of shared ordinal processes operating in both numerical and WM domains. We explored this question by assessing the interrelations between numerical ordinal, serial order WM, and arithmetic abilities in 102 7- to 9-year-old children. We replicated previous studies showing that ordinal numerical judgement and serial order WM predict arithmetic abilities. Furthermore, we showed that ordinal numerical judgement abilities predict arithmetic abilities after controlling for serial order WM abilities while the relationship between serial order WM and arithmetic abilities was mediated by numerical ordinal judgement performance. We discuss these results in the light of recent theoretical frameworks considering that numerical ordinal codes support the coding of order information in verbal WM. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Numerical ordinal processes predict mathematical achievement in adults. Order WM processing predicts first mathematical abilities. What the present study adds? Numerical ordinal processes predict mathematical achievement in children and independently of order WM. The link between order WM and mathematical abilities was mediated by long-term ordinal processes.

The Effect of the Price of Housing on Child and Young Adult Achievement

Unprecedented swings in the real price of owner-occupied housing may have affected child development. We merge longitudinal data on child and young adult outcomes with information on local house prices and market rents, and analyze both the short- and long-term effects of the price of housing experienced during childhood. The results indicate that the price of owner-occupied housing has a small negative effect on children's mathematical achievement, but no consistent impact on reading achievement, behavior problems, or a child's body mass index. A higher average price of housing experienced during childhood has a negative effect on the wage rate of young adults, consistent with the negative effect on childhood mathematical achievement.

Psychomotor Ability and Short-term Memory, and Reading and Mathematics Achievement in Children.

The aim of our study was to examine whether the findings from previous research, indicating the role of short-term memory as a mediator of the relationship between motor coordination and academic achievement in adolescents, is also evident in a younger child population. The study utilized a quantative cross-sectional design involving 133 children aged 8-12. The McCarron Assessment of Neuromuscular Development (MAND) provided four indicators of psychomotor ability (Finger Nose, Walking, Balancing, and Jumping). The Woodcock-Johnson Cognitive battery and the Automated Working Memory Assessment (AWMA) provided two measures of short-term memory (Numbers Reversed and Digit Recall) and the WJIII Achievement battery provided two measures of reading achievement (Letter-word Identification and Passage Comprehension) and two measures of mathematics achievement (Applied Problems and Calculation). Structural equation modeling was used, controlling for age, processing speed, crystallized, and fluid intelligence where appropriate. The results found support for the hypothesis that short-term memory fully mediates the relationship between psychomotor ability and reading and mathematics achievement. These findings indicate the significant affect of psychomotor ability on learning outcomes and consequently the need to assess these in considering learning difficulties, and as such these findings also advance understanding of developmental neural mechanisms underpinning the relationships.

CAUSAL INFERENCE AND THE SPATIAL-MATH LINK IN EARLY CHILDHOOD.

Verdine et al. (2017) present compelling evidence for a causal effect of spatial skills on children's mathematics achievement in early childhood. In additional analyses of the correlation matrix reported by Verdine et al., I present evidence that the spatial-math link is not merely an epiphenomenon of general cognitive demands of both tasks. However, the question of whether the link is due to a causal effect of spatial skills on mathematics skills, a causal effect of mathematics skills on spatial skills, or common factors influencing both during this developmental period is a more difficult one to answer. I present a well-fitting model that implies factors influencing both are largely responsible for the correlations among mathematics and spatial skills across this developmental period. This analysis is far from a complete account of the spatial-math link in early childhood; however, I end with recommendations for moving forward most efficiently.

Young children's core symbolic and nonsymbolic quantitative knowledge in the prediction of later mathematics achievement.

At the beginning of preschool (M = 46 months of age), 197 (94 boys) children were administered tasks that assessed a suite of nonsymbolic and symbolic quantitative competencies as well as their executive functions, verbal and nonverbal intelligence, preliteracy skills, and their parents' education level. The children's mathematics achievement was assessed at the end of preschool (M = 64 months). We used a series of Bayesian and standard regression analyses to winnow this broad set of competencies down to the core subset of quantitative skills that predict later mathematics achievement, controlling other factors. This knowledge included children's fluency in reciting the counting string, their understanding of the cardinal value of number words, and recognition of Arabic numerals, as well as their sensitivity to the relative quantity of 2 collections of objects. The results inform theoretical models of the foundations of children's early quantitative development and have practical implications for the design of early interventions for children at risk for poor long-term mathematics achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record

Multidimensionality of parental involvement and children's mathematics achievement in Taiwan: Mediating effect of math self-efficacy

The present study confirmed the multidimensional construct of Taiwanese parental involvement and examined the direct and indirect influences of parental involvement on students' mathematics achievement, that is, the mediating effects of math self-efficacy. Questionnaires were administered to 1286 seventh grade students in Central Taiwan, and structural equation modeling was utilized. The results indicated that the multidimensional model of parental involvement in mathematics contained three components: parental beliefs and expectations, managerial involvement (i.e., parental instruction), and structural involvement (i.e., resources parents provide for children). In addition, results suggested that parental involvement is indirectly associated with students' mathematics achievement through the mediating effects of math self-efficacy, either partially or completely. The conceptual framework and measures can contribute to future work on parenting, including research designed to map multidimensional constructs that describe parental involvement and studies that explore how parental involvement shapes school outcomes of early adolescents in mathematics through their math self-efficacy.

The Empathizing-Systemizing Theory, Social Abilities, and Mathematical Achievement in Children.

The Empathizing-Systemizing (E-S) theory describes a profile of traits that have been linked to autism spectrum disorders, and are thought to encompass a continuum that includes typically developing (TD) individuals. Although systemizing is hypothesized to be related to mathematical abilities, empirical support for this relationship is lacking. We examine the link between empathizing and systemizing tendencies and mathematical achievement in 112 TD children (57 girls) to elucidate how socio-cognitive constructs influence early development of mathematical skills. Assessment of mathematical achievement included standardized tests designed to examine calculation skills and conceptual mathematical reasoning. Empathizing and systemizing were assessed using the Combined Empathy Quotient-Child (EQ-C) and Systemizing Quotient-Child (SQ-C). Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that mathematical achievement was not related to systemizing or the discrepancy between systemizing and empathizing. Surprisingly, children with higher empathy demonstrated lower calculation skills. Further analysis using the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) revealed that the relationship between EQ-C and mathematical achievement was mediated by social ability rather than autistic behaviors. Finally, social awareness was found to play a differential role in mediating the relationship between EQ-C and mathematical achievement in girls. These results identify empathy, and social skills more generally, as previously unknown predictors of mathematical achievement.

Don't aim too high for your kids: Parental overaspiration undermines students' learning in mathematics.

Previous research has suggested that parents' aspirations for their children's academic attainment can have a positive influence on children's actual academic performance. Possible negative effects of parental overaspiration, however, have found little attention in the psychological literature. Employing a dual-change score model with longitudinal data from a representative sample of German school children and their parents (N = 3,530; Grades 5 to 10), we showed that parental aspiration and children's mathematical achievement were linked by positive reciprocal relations over time. Importantly, we also found that parental aspiration that exceeded their expectation (i.e., overaspiration) had negative reciprocal relations with children's mathematical achievement. These results were fairly robust after controlling for a variety of demographic and cognitive variables such as children's gender, age, intelligence, school type, and family socioeconomic status. The results were also replicated with an independent sample of U.S. parents and their children. These findings suggest that unrealistically high parental aspiration can be detrimental for children's achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record

Effects of Token Economy on Mathematics Achievement of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Government Practising Schools in Buea, Cameroon

Effects of Token Economy on Mathematics Achievement of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Government Practising Schools in Buea, Cameroon

Individual differences in children's mathematics achievement: The roles of symbolic numerical magnitude processing and domain-general cognitive functions.

This contribution reviewed the available evidence on the domain-specific and domain-general neurocognitive determinants of children's arithmetic development, other than nonsymbolic numerical magnitude processing, which might have been overemphasized as a core factor of individual differences in mathematics and dyscalculia. We focused on symbolic numerical magnitude processing, working memory, and phonological processing, as these determinants have been most researched and their roles in arithmetic can be predicted against the background of brain imaging data. Our review indicates that symbolic numerical magnitude processing is a major determinant of individual differences in arithmetic. Working memory, particularly the central executive, also plays a role in learning arithmetic, but its influence appears to be dependent on the learning stage and experience of children. The available evidence on phonological processing suggests that it plays a more subtle role in children's acquisition of arithmetic facts. Future longitudinal studies should investigate these factors in concert to understand their relative contribution as well as their mediating and moderating roles in children's arithmetic development.

How do different components of Effortful Control contribute to children's mathematics achievement?

This work sought to investigate the specific contribution of two different components of Effortful Control (EC) -attentional focusing (AF) and inhibitory control- to children’s mathematics achievement. The sample was composed of 142 children aged 9–12 year-old. EC components were measured through the Temperament in Middle Childhood Questionnaire (TMCQ; parent’s report); math achievement was measured via teacher’s report and through the standard Woodcock–Johnson test. Additionally, the contribution of other cognitive and socio-emotional processes was taken into account. Our results showed that only AF significantly contributed to the variance of children’s mathematics achievement; interestingly, mediational models showed that the relationship between effortful attentional self-regulation and mathematics achievement was mediated by academic peer popularity, as well as by intelligence and study skills. Results are discussed in the light of the current theories on the role of children’s self-regulation abilities in the context of school.

Numerical magnitude processing in abacus-trained children with superior mathematical ability: an EEG study.

Distance effect has been regarded as the best established marker of basic numerical magnitude processes and is related to individual mathematical abilities. A larger behavioral distance effect is suggested to be concomitant with lower mathematical achievement in children. However, the relationship between distance effect and superior mathematical abilities is unclear. One could get superior mathematical abilities by acquiring the skill of abacus-based mental calculation (AMC), which can be used to solve calculation problems with exceptional speed and high accuracy. In the current study, we explore the relationship between distance effect and superior mathematical abilities by examining whether and how the AMC training modifies numerical magnitude processing. Thus, mathematical competencies were tested in 18 abacus-trained children (who accepted the AMC training) and 18 non-trained children. Electroencephalography (EEG) waveforms were recorded when these children executed numerical comparison tasks in both Arabic digit and dot array forms. We found that: (a) the abacus-trained group had superior mathematical abilities than their peers; (b) distance effects were found both in behavioral results and on EEG waveforms; (c) the distance effect size of the average amplitude on the late negative-going component was different between groups in the digit task, with a larger effect size for abacus-trained children; (d) both the behavioral and EEG distance effects were modulated by the notation. These results revealed that the neural substrates of magnitude processing were modified by AMC training, and suggested that the mechanism of the representation of numerical magnitude for children with superior mathematical abilities was different from their peers. In addition, the results provide evidence for a view of non-abstract numerical representation.

The contribution of cultural capital to students’ mathematics achievement in medium and high socioeconomic gradient economies

The present study addresses the issue of how different forms of cultural capital may influence children's mathematics achievement in economies with different socioeconomic gradients. Data from 73,178 parent–child dyads from 10 economies with different socioeconomic gradients who participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 were analysed using hierarchical linear modelling. The cultural capital variables examined comprised the availability of home educational resources and parental educational expectations of their children. Results showed that after controlling for parent education, student gender and student history of repeating grades in the past, there were statistically significant main and interaction effects (home educational resources × parent education and parental educational expectations × parent education) of cultural capital on student achievement. Furthermore, these effects explained more student achievement variance in high than in medium socioeconomic gradient economies (7.45% vs 2.82% respectively). In particular, the main effects for parental educational expectations, and interaction effect between parental educational expectations and parent education were more pronounced in high as compared with medium socioeconomic gradient economies. Overall, the results underscore the challenges confronting low socioeconomic status (SES) parents who aspire for social mobility for their children and the need for high SES parents to strategically ‘activate’ their cultural capital advantages to benefit their children's achievement maximally.

Predictors of mathematics achievement of migrant children in Chinese urban schools: A comparative study

In China, the education of increasing numbers of migrant children in urban settings is undertaken in integrated public or segregated migrant schools. This study compares the factors and predictors related to migrant children's mathematics achievement in public schools and migrant schools. Regression analyses were conducted to determine which independent variables (school type, sibling numbers, length of residence in urban areas, gender, preschool attendance, and parental socioeconomic status) were the predictors of migrant students’ mathematics achievement. With respect to the total sample, the overall model of five factors pertinent to student achievement outcomes in mathematics was significant (sibling numbers, length of residence in urban areas, preschool attendance, parental socioeconomic status and school type). While these factors figure prominently as significant academic predictors for the migrant school sample, the only significant predictor of mathematics achievement for the public school sample is parental socioeconomic status. In the light of these findings the paper concludes with suggestions for the intervention that inform and characterize the education of migrant children in urban schools.

Private speech use in arithmetical calculation: relationship with phonological memory skills in children with and without mathematical difficulties.

The majority of recent studies conclude that children's private speech development (private speech internalisation) is important for mathematical development and subject to disabling. The main concern of the present study was whether or not the two phonological memory factors evaluated in the study (i.e. the results of children's digit span assessments, both forward and backward) relates to private speech internalisation and whether this relationship changes with children's age, or mathematical achievement levels, or both. We made comparisons between children with acknowledged mathematical difficulties (MD) and children without mathematical difficulties (MN), basing on private speech differences, phonological memory differences and differences in the relationship between private speech internalisation and phonological memory skills. The results not only confirm the impact of private speech internalisation but also emphasise a possible parallel role of phonological memory for subsequent mathematical achievement. In contrast to the MD children, children without MD showed an age-determined shift from a lesser to greater relationship between a high level of private speech internalisation and a high level phonological memory skills. As a whole, the results are consistent with a developmental difference and not with a developmental delay model and suggest that relationships between private speech internalisation and phonological memory may reflect individual differences in children's mathematical achievement. The results are discussed in terms of directions for future research.

Numerical Estimation in Children With Autism.

Number skills are often reported anecdotally and in the mass media as a relative strength for individuals with autism, yet there are remarkably few research studies addressing this issue. This study, therefore, sought to examine autistic children's number estimation skills and whether variation in these skills can explain at least in part strengths and weaknesses in children's mathematical achievement. Thirty-two cognitively able children with autism (range = 8-13 years) and 32 typical children of similar age and ability were administered a standardized test of mathematical achievement and two estimation tasks, one psychophysical nonsymbolic estimation (numerosity discrimination) task and one symbolic estimation (numberline) task. Children with autism performed worse than typical children on the numerosity task, on the numberline task, which required mapping numerical values onto space, and on the test of mathematical achievement. These findings question the widespread belief that mathematical skills are generally enhanced in autism. For both groups of children, variation in performance on the numberline task was also uniquely related to their academic achievement, over and above variation in intellectual ability; better number-to-space mapping skills went hand-in-hand with better arithmetic skills. Future research should further determine the extent and underlying causes of some autistic children's difficulties with regards to number.

Characteristics of mathematical tasks and social class-related achievement differences among primary school children

Children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds are less successful in mathematics classes than more privileged children. Based on the theoretical work of Bourdieu (1987) we assumed that class differences in mathematics tests can be related to the presence of everyday knowledge in a mathematical task: Due to their “habitus” acquired via socialization, working-class children might be more often misled by references to the real world than service-class children and therefore answer the word problem incorrectly. We asked 473 year-3 pupils and 360 year-4 pupils in nine primary schools to answer mathematical items which varied only with regard to whether items were embedded in experience-based contexts (“realistic”) or not (“pure”). Our findings indicate that correct response rates of working-class and service-class children were not systematically related to item context. Since the impact of social class on correct response rates varies significantly among classes for realistic test scores, but only to a minor extent for purely mathematical test scores, further studies should focus on the differential impact of classroom instruction on mathematics achievement of children with different social backgrounds.

Children's mathematical achievement and how it relates to working memory, test anxiety and self-regulation: A person-centred approach

Meeting the challenges of teaching to all individuals requires a multifaceted approach, especially from the Swedish standpoint of inclusive education for all pupils. In the context of applied standards for receiving special educational provision, the present paper strives to shed light on the scope of novel indicators which can accommodate pupils’ different needs. Founded on three established and robust psycho-educational concepts – working memory, test anxiety and self-regulation – all of which are important for educational, social, emotional and behavioural development, the present study examines those concepts in terms of profiles and their relations to mathematical achievement. A battery of tests was completed by 624 children between the ages of 8 and 10 to assess their working memory, test anxiety, self-regulation, and mathematical achievement. Person-centred analyses confirmed the negative academic outcomes associated with the aforementioned variables but also revealed individual variations that warrant attention. Further, pupils labelled with an ‘At-risk’ profile were more likely to achieve low Maths scores, compared to pupils with an ‘In-vigour’ profile. An implication for special educational provision is discussed, and practical suggestions are provided.

Nature and origins of mathematics difficulties in very preterm children: a different etiology than developmental dyscalculia

Children born very preterm (<32 wk) are at high risk for mathematics learning difficulties that are out of proportion to other academic and cognitive deficits. However, the etiology of mathematics difficulties in very preterm children is unknown. We sought to identify the nature and origins of preterm children's mathematics difficulties. One hundred and fifteen very preterm children aged 8-10 y were assessed in school with a control group of 77 term-born classmates. Achievement in mathematics, working memory, visuospatial processing, inhibition, and processing speed were assessed using standardized tests. Numerical representations and specific mathematics skills were assessed using experimental tests. Very preterm children had significantly poorer mathematics achievement, working memory, and visuospatial skills than term-born controls. Although preterm children had poorer performance in specific mathematics skills, there was no evidence of imprecise numerical representations. Difficulties in mathematics were associated with deficits in visuospatial processing and working memory. Mathematics difficulties in very preterm children are associated with deficits in working memory and visuospatial processing not numerical representations. Thus, very preterm children's mathematics difficulties are different in nature from those of children with developmental dyscalculia. Interventions targeting general cognitive problems, rather than numerical representations, may improve very preterm children's mathematics achievement.