Mattera Shira K, Morris Pamela A, Jacob Robin, Maier Michelle, Rojas Natalia
MDRC, New York, NY, United States.
MDRC, New York, NY, United States; New York University, New York, NY, United States.
Adv Child Dev Behav. 2017;53:227-253. doi: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2017.04.002. Epub 2017 Jun 23.
A growing literature has demonstrated that early math skills are associated with later outcomes for children. This research has generated interest in improving children's early math competencies as a pathway to improved outcomes for children in elementary school. The Making Pre-K Count study was designed to test the effects of an early math intervention for preschoolers. Its design was unique in that, in addition to causally testing the effects of early math skills, it also allowed for the examination of a number of additional questions about scale-up, the influence of contextual factors and the counterfactual environment, the mechanism of long-term fade-out, and the role of measurement in early childhood intervention findings. This chapter outlines some of the design considerations and decisions put in place to create a rigorous test of the causal effects of early math skills that is also able to answer these questions in early childhood mathematics and intervention. The study serves as a potential model for how to advance science in the fields of preschool intervention and early mathematics.
越来越多的文献表明，早期数学技能与儿童日后的发展结果相关。这项研究引发了人们对于提高儿童早期数学能力的兴趣，将其作为改善小学儿童发展结果的一条途径。“让学前班算数”研究旨在测试一项针对学龄前儿童的早期数学干预措施的效果。其设计独特之处在于，除了对早期数学技能的效果进行因果测试外，它还允许研究一系列其他问题，如扩大规模的问题、背景因素和反事实环境的影响、长期消退的机制以及测量在幼儿干预研究结果中的作用。本章概述了为严格测试早期数学技能的因果效应而进行的一些设计考量和决策，这些考量和决策还能够回答幼儿数学和干预领域中的这些问题。该研究为如何推动学前干预和早期数学领域的科学发展提供了一个潜在的模式。
