| dc.description.abstract | Understanding the academic and cognitive factors that contribute to the development of early mathematical knowledge and skills is crucial for effective assessment and intervention. However, these factors are often studied separately and in different student populations. To better understand the relative contributions of end of pre-kindergarten (pre-K) factors to math achievement in kindergarten, this study assessed domain-general factors (literacy, executive functioning, attention, visual-spatial skills) and domain-specific factors (initial mathematical knowledge, approximate number system or ANS acuity) in 277 children, who entered pre-K with limited mathematical knowledge (<25th percentile TEMA-3). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that math performance at the end of pre-K and kindergarten age accounted for 55.6% of variance in kindergarten math achievement, suggesting that math performance at the end of pre-K may be used to identify students at-risk for math difficulties in kindergarten. Although most end of pre-K factors were significantly correlated with kindergarten math achievement, only early print knowledge and inhibition predicted kindergarten math achievement over and above end of pre-K math performance. Working memory and ANS acuity were not significant predictors. These findings suggest that math and print knowledge accumulated by end of pre-K are critical to math performance in kindergarten for students who enter pre-K at-risk for math difficulties, and inhibition may play a central role in math performance for low-performing students in kindergarten. Results call for the consideration of prior mathematical knowledge as a potential mediator between cognitive and language skills and later mathematics. | en_US |
