‘Op weg naar Rekenen’: Een vergelijking tussen de complete versie en de verkorte versie van een remediërend programma voor voorbereidende rekenvaardigheid. ‘On the road to Mathematics’: A comparison between the complete version and the shortened version of a intervention to improve early numeracy.

Abstract

Background: Many kindergartners experience difficulties with early numeracy. These children are not able to understand the mathematics they have to learn in Grade 1. Besides that, early numeracy is a good predictor of mathematic skills. If we can improve their early numeracy, the children should have less mathematic problems. Aim: The purpose of this study is to determine whether the intervention The road to mathematics improves the early numeracy and mathematic skills of children with low early numeracy skills. Method: A total of 410 children were identified as children with low early numeracy skills, and randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group. Throughout the second year of kindergarten, the control group had been divided in a second experimental group and a control group. The two experimental groups followed an intervention for 1.5 year or 0.5 year. Twice a year, a standardized early numeracy test was administered. In Grade 1, their performance on a standardized math test was measured. Results: The results revealed that the early numeracy skills from the children improved after intervention. The complete version improved early numeracy better than the shortened version. Moreover, the children in the experimental outperformed the children in the control group on the math test in Grade 1. No difference between the two experimental groups was found on the math test. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that both versions of the intervention The road to mathematics improve the early numeracy skills of children with low numeracy skills. Furthermore, there is evidence that this effect lasts in Grade 1.