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Preschool teachers perceived efficacy providing mathematics instruction to young children with and without disabilities
Abstract
Early mathematics skills are predictive of later achievement, but there is evidence teachers generally provide little
mathematics instruction in preschool classrooms. We conducted this survey study to better understand teachers’ reported
beliefs about their own mathematics skills, expectations, and practices for children with and without disabilities, and the
impact of these reported beliefs and practices on the perceived effectiveness of their instruction. We found teachers had
less confidence in their own mathematics skills than their mathematics teaching abilities and had differing expectations
for children with and without disabilities. Their beliefs about their own mathematics abilities predicted their perceived
effectiveness for typically developing children only, but their beliefs about their teaching abilities predicted their perceived
effectiveness for children with and without disabilities. Implications include the need to better prepare and support
teachers to teach mathematics to all children and collect data from varied sources on teachers’ practices.
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The response rates of online surveys were often examined in the literature by comparing to other modes of surveys. Questions regarding what constitutes a respectable response rate for online surveys in research remained unanswered. To fill in the knowledge gap, we conducted a comprehensive search, screened 8672 studies, and examined 1071 online survey response rates reported in education-related research. Our analyses showed the number of online surveys in published research grew steadily across the years. The average online survey response rate is 44.1%. Our results indicate that sending an online survey to more participants did not generate a higher response rate. Instead, sending surveys to a clearly defined and refined population positively impacts the online survey response rate. In addition, pre-contacting potential participants, using other types of surveys in conjunction with online surveys, and using phone calls to remind participants about the online survey could also yield a higher response rate. The use of incentives did not show a significant impact on the response rate of online surveys. Other factors that impacted the rates included the funding status of a project, and the age and occupation of the participants. Concrete suggestions for reviewing and improving the online survey response rates are provided.
Perhaps more than at any other time in history, the development of mathematical skill is critical for the long-term success of students. Unfortunately, on average, U.S. students lag behind their peers in other developed countries on mathematics outcomes, and within the United States, an entrenched mathematics achievement gap exists between students from more highly resourced and socially dominant groups, and minority students. To begin to remedy this situation, educational researchers have created instructional interventions designed to support the mathematical learning of young students, some of which have demonstrated efficacy at improving student mathematical skills in preschool, as compared with a business-as-usual control group. However, the degree to which these effects last or fade out in elementary school has been the subject of substantial research and debate, and differences in scholarly viewpoints have prevented researchers from making clear and consistent policy recommendations to educational decision makers and stakeholders. In this article, we use a relatively novel statistical framework, Dynamic Measurement Modeling, that takes both intra- and interindividual student differences across time into account, to demonstrate that while students who receive a short-term intervention in preschool may not differ from a control group in terms of their long-term mathematics outcomes at the end of elementary school, they do exhibit significantly steeper growth curves as they approach their eventual skill level. In addition, this significant improvement of learning rate in elementary school benefited minority (i.e., Black or Latinx) students most, highlighting the critical societal need for research-based mathematics curricula in preschool.
This case study explored how multiple educational personnel in a middle school identified as an exemplar of inclusive education defined and provided students with severe disabilities access to the general education curriculum. Data sources including a questionnaire, interviews, observations, observation reflections, and artifacts were collected from 12 participants who worked as administrators, general education teachers, special education teachers, or paraprofessionals. Findings point to educational personnel who are committed to providing access to the general education curriculum in general education classrooms and carry out this mission through shared responsibility, collaboration, peer supports, and multi-faceted learning structures. These findings are discussed in relation to future research and practice in the areas of inclusion and severe disabilities.
Preparing children to be successful in mathematics begins with what they learn before they reach 1st grade. Math knowledge in prekindergarten and kindergarten predicts school achievement in math and in other topics, such as reading. Indeed, early math knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of math grades in high school, high school graduation, and college entry. But children enter kindergarten with a huge range of numerical knowledge and skills. So early educators must be attentive to practices that will aid in closing the gaps in learning. They can attend to this by following the guidance outlined in the National Research Council’s report, Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity, which identified math concepts that young children can and should learn. Especially important are children’s competence with quantity and number, as well as geometry and spatial reasoning. The NRC’s research summary and recommendations helped guide the Common Core State Standards in mathematics for kindergarten through 2nd grade.
This study reports on results from the Early Mathematics Beliefs and Confidence Survey, administered to 346 preschool teachers in a large public school system in the Midwest. Survey results depict a much more positive view of teachers’ beliefs and confidence in early math teaching than previously reported. Results also suggest that teacher confidence varies with specific types of math knowledge and teaching abilities, and assessing math learning is a specific area where teachers lack confidence. Examining confidence in their math abilities and in teaching early math, results indicate that teachers are more confident teaching math and remain confident in teaching even when confidence in their abilities is low. Implications of results for early math professional development are discussed.
This paper reports on the impact of a brief professional learning program for K-8 teachers of mathematics, on teachers' beliefs about effective numeracy teaching strategies and appropriate goals of numeracy teaching, for students with mathematics learning difficulties and for students generally. Evaluation data indicated that the teachers finished the program less inclined to espouse differing beliefs in relation to the two types of students, and that their final beliefs were more in line with the aims of the program. Numeracy is accepted as having its foundations in mathematics (Australian Education Council, 1990) and is typically defined as also involving affective dimensions and the ability to use mathematics in everyday life (Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers, 1997). More recently, the Tasmanian Department of Education (DoET) (2002) stated that numeracy; requires the knowledge and disposition to think and act mathematically and the confidence and intuition to apply mathematical principles to everyday problems. … it also involves the critical and life-related aspects of being able to interpret information thoughtfully and accurately when it is presented in numerical and graphic form (p. 21).
Using 6 longitudinal data sets, the authors estimate links between three key elements of school readiness--school-entry academic, attention, and socioemotional skills--and later school reading and math achievement. In an effort to isolate the effects of these school-entry skills, the authors ensured that most of their regression models control for cognitive, attention, and socioemotional skills measured prior to school entry, as well as a host of family background measures. Across all 6 studies, the strongest predictors of later achievement are school-entry math, reading, and attention skills. A meta-analysis of the results shows that early math skills have the greatest predictive power, followed by reading and then attention skills. By contrast, measures of socioemotional behaviors, including internalizing and externalizing problems and social skills, were generally insignificant predictors of later academic performance, even among children with relatively high levels of problem behavior. Patterns of association were similar for boys and girls and for children from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds.
Despite the vast research on the early predictors of mathematics achievement, little research has investigated the predictors of various domains of mathematics (e.g., geometry, statistics). The purpose of the present study was to examine the predictive relation between first-grade early numeracy and computation skills and third-grade mathematics achievement as measured by a state test. Furthermore, we explored the relations between these measures for students who were Below Proficient and Proficient. Findings suggest that proficiency level matters when examining the relation between mathematics skills. Also, there are different patterns of significant predictors depending on the domain of later mathematics achievement and whether or not reading achievement was considered. Findings are discussed in the context of mathematics learning for students with mathematics difficulty.
Research Findings: The present study examined the amount of exposure to math activities that children of low socioeconomic status (SES) encounter in private community-based preschool classrooms and whether greater time in these activities predicted higher math skills. Three cohorts of 4- to 5-year-old children were recruited from 30 private centers, resulting in a sample of 288 children nested within 73 preschool classrooms. Classroom observations were conducted for 150 min during fall and winter of the preschool year using a time sampling method. Preschoolers were exposed to an average daily amount of 2 min (range = 0–23) of math exposure. Hierarchical linear models were run to examine associations between math exposure and math achievement. Children’s exposure to math activities significantly and positively predicted their spring math scores, but associations between math exposure and math scores were stronger for children with lower initial cognitive abilities and self-regulation skills. Practice or Policy: Our findings revealed generally low levels of math instruction occurring in private child care centers primarily serving low-SES children. Even limited exposure to math activities predicted children’s math skills, however, which highlights the importance of math content in these settings.
Research Findings: Quality early science education is important for addressing the low science achievement, compared to international peers, of elementary students in the United States. Teachers’ beliefs about their skills in a content area, that is, their content self-efficacy is important because it has implications for teaching practice and child outcomes. However, little is known about how teachers’ self-efficacy for literacy, math and science compare and how domain-specific self-efficacy relates to teachers’ practice in the area of science. Analysis of survey and observation data from 67 Head Start classrooms across eight programs indicated that domain-specific self-efficacy was highest for literacy, significantly lower for science, and lowest for math. Classrooms varied, but in general, engaged in literacy far more than science, contained a modest amount of science materials, and their instructional support of science was low. Importantly, self-efficacy for science, but not literacy or math, related to teachers frequency of engaging children in science instruction. Teachers’ education and experience did not predict self-efficacy for science. Practice or Policy: To enhance the science opportunities provided in early childhood classrooms, pre-service and in-service education programs should provide teachers with content and practices for science rather than focusing exclusively on literacy.
This article was tvritten as a response to Ayres, Lowrey, Douglas, and Sievers (2011) who commented on the degree to which promoting the teaching of functional skills had a higher probability of leading to a more independent life for students with severe disabilities. In doing so, the authors take issue with the use of a standards-based curriculum and suggest that working on grade-level content seizes lime that could be allocated to teaching skills for adult life. We suggest that a standards-based curriculum affords students with severe disabilities a complete educational opportunity and need not preclude personally relevant instruction. In our rejoinder, we first describe our points of agreement (evolving curriculum, contribution of research on teaching functional skills, dismal transition outcomes), and then suggest seven reasons why a standards-based curriculum is appropriate. Our reasons include: (a) right to a full educational opportunity, (b) relevancy of a standards-based curriculum (c) unknown potential of students with severe disabilities, (d) functional skills are not a prerequisite to academic skills, (e) standards-based curriculum is not a replacement for functional curriculum, (f) individualized curriculum is limited when it is the only curriculum, and (g) students creating their own changing expectations through achievements.
Background
Children's early skills are essential for their later success in school. Recent evidence highlights the importance of early mathematics, relative to reading and socioemotional skills, for elementary school achievement. Key advocacy groups for both early childhood and mathematics education have issued position statements on the importance of early mathematics, arguing that mathematics education for 3- to 6- year-olds is essential to promoting future mathematics achievement.
Focus of Study
Despite the fact that advocates and researchers are focusing on early math skills, we are still learning about the mathematics knowledge and skills young children typically have and how these early skills affect later academic achievement and school success. This study aims to address these gaps in the extant research by investigating how early math skills predict later school success. We explore how early math skills relate to achievement, from kindergarten through eighth grade, across reading, math, and science test score outcomes, as well as grade retention and teacher-reported academic achievement. We also explore whether there is variation in the relationship between early math skills and later outcomes for children who enter school with limited math skills.
Research Design
We conduct secondary analysis with data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort, a longitudinal, nationally representative sample of children who were in kindergarten in 1998–1999 and were followed through eighth grade.
Results
We find that early math skills predict reading, math, and science achievement as well as grade retention from kindergarten through eighth grade. Results show that kindergarten math skills in pattern recognition, measurement, and advanced number are most predictive of eighth-grade outcomes overall and for subgroups including students who enter school with low math skills. The importance of these math skills for subsequent achievement increases or is maintained over time.
Conclusions
The results reported here have implications for education policy regarding mathematics instruction in the earliest years of schooling. The fact that early mathematics knowledge and skills are the most important predictors not only for later math achievement but also for achievement in other content areas and grade retention supports a greater emphasis on mathematics than is currently the case in many kindergarten classrooms. It also suggest the possibility that focusing more on advanced number, pattern recognition, and measurement might develop skills that will benefit students in the later years of schooling.
The Mathematical Development Beliefs Survey was developed to measure early childhood teachers’ beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning in the preschool classroom. This instrument was designed to measure beliefs concerning (a) age-appropriateness of mathematics instruction, (b) classroom locus of generation of mathematical knowledge (teacher vs child), (c) mathematical development as a primary goal of preschool education, and (d) confidence level in providing mathematics instruction. The reliability and validity of the instrument was examined through multiple phases of development, including two pilot studies and a final study with 346 pre- and in-service preschool teachers across three states. Methods included cognitive interviews with participants, literature reviews, and interviews with experts in the field, as well as statistical procedures such as analyses of variance between well-defined groups of in- and preservice teachers, correlations between measures of knowledge and beliefs, and confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability of the instrument was examined through the use of Cronbach’s alpha and item-total correlations. These statistical procedures provided very good to excellent support for both validity and reliability. Potential applications include informing development and evaluation of early childhood education teacher preparation programs and professional development interventions.
Many students with disabilities (SWD) are not meeting proficiency, and achievement scores disaggregated by disability status show that SWD are often not meeting progress targets established by states. A survey was developed to collect data from 218 general and special educators to analyze trends in teachers’ attitudes and practices that may be affecting the educational experience and achievement of many SWD. Results of these analyses provide information regarding the attitudes of teachers toward the ability of SWD and the fairness and validity of high-stakes testing. Teachers’ attitudes toward the ability of SWD, teacher classification, and the amount of teacher training were all found to be predictors of the use of evidence-based practice. The attitude of teachers toward the ability of SWD to learn and achieve higher level thinking was found to predict proficient scores of SWD on the New England Common Assessment Program achievement test.
This study explored pre-kindergarten teachers' beliefs about the appropriateness of early mathematics education. Thirty pre-kindergarten teachers of four-year-olds, half working with low-SES children at publicly funded pre-kindergartens and the other half with middle-SES children at private pre-kindergartens, were interviewed concerning written vignettes describing two fictitious pre-kindergarten teachers' contrasting pedagogies concerning key issues in teaching mathematics to young children. The low-SES publicly funded pre-kindergarten teachers tended to support a strong focus on goal-based mathematics teaching at pre-kindergarten and at home to get children ready for kindergarten. The middle-SES private pre-kindergarten teachers tended to endorse flexible mathematics education relying on a child-centered curriculum and child-initiated learning and to oppose the instructional use of computers. Both groups, however, were similarly likely to mention that with increased academic demands, pre-kindergarten teachers needed to provide mathematics education, especially in simple arithmetic, albeit in a fun manner, without triggering stress or anxiety. These findings have significant implications for professional development.
The current paper considers how children spend their time in state-funded pre-kindergarten programs and how time use relates to ethnicity, gender, and family income, based on the assumption that how time is spent in pre-kindergarten is relevant for the programs’ success in narrowing achievement gaps. Classroom observations of 2061 children in 652 pre-k programs in 11 states were analyzed. Findings indicated that the pre-kindergarten day was roughly equally divided among free choice, teacher-assigned activities, and meals/routines. Children spent much of their time in language/literacy, social studies, and art, and less time in math and gross motor activities. Much of the pre-k day was spent in ‘no coded learning activity.’ Children in classes with lower proportions of Latino and African American children and higher average income-to-need ratios were generally engaged in richer and more stimulating experiences. The child-level variables of ethnicity and income were generally unrelated to how children spent their time, above and beyond the effects of classroom-level ethnicity and income. There were generally small, but significant gender differences – always in the gender-stereotyped direction – in how time was spent, especially during free choice time.
Research electronic data capture (REDCap) is a novel workflow methodology and software solution designed for rapid development and deployment of electronic data capture tools to support clinical and translational research. We present: (1) a brief description of the REDCap metadata-driven software toolset; (2) detail concerning the capture and use of study-related metadata from scientific research teams; (3) measures of impact for REDCap; (4) details concerning a consortium network of domestic and international institutions collaborating on the project; and (5) strengths and limitations of the REDCap system. REDCap is currently supporting 286 translational research projects in a growing collaborative network including 27 active partner institutions.
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