The DOI matches its Crossref record; 35 of the 35 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Teaching Students What They Already Know? The (Mis)Alignment Between Mathematics Instructional Content and Student Knowledge in Kindergarten
Abstract
Kindergarten mathematics skills are important for subsequent achievement, yet mathematics is underemphasized in kindergarten classrooms. Using nationally representative data, this study explored the relationship between students’ school-entry math skills, classroom content coverage, and end-of-kindergarten math achievement. Although the vast majority of children entered kindergarten having mastered basic counting and able to recognize simple geometric shapes, their teachers reported spending the most mathematics time—typically about 13 days per month—on this content. On average, exposure to this basic mathematics content was negatively associated with math achievement across kindergarten. Importantly, children with the lowest levels of math skills benefited from exposure to this basic mathematics content whereas other children benefited from exposure to more advanced content.
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“Claessens et al. [8] and Engel et al. [16] suggested that preschoolers benefit from exposure to advanced content in literacy and math, compared to basic content.”
From SET-PAiREd: Designing for Parental Involvement in Learning with an AI-Assisted Educational Robot (2025) · cites this paper as [16]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Engel, M., Claessens, A., & Finch, M. A.
- Affiliations
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Salisbury University (US)
- Venue
- Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis
- Published
- 2013-06
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 157-178
- ISSN
- 0162-3737 (ISSN-L)
- 1935-1062
- OpenAlex
- W243652177
- Cited by
- 259
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 30 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 7.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (publishedVersion)
- Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Social Sciences › Education › Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques
- Keywords
- kindergarten mathematics, mathematics education, mathematics achievement, counting, geometric figures, early childhood mathematics, low-achieving students
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