THE MATHEMATICAL ACHIEVEMENT OF CHILDREN IN THE COUNT ME IN TOO PRO

This paper reports findings from a study designed to investigate the impact of an early numeracy program on the mathematical achievement of young children. Two groups of Year 1 students were assessed using the Schedule for Early Number Assessment--once in May, prior to the experimental group participating in the numeracy program, and once in November. Results indicate that the experimental group performed significantly better than the control group at the post-test phase. The first three years of school have been acknowledged as having a profound effect on the rest of a child's mathematical education (Wright, 1994a). While numeracy levels continue to receive attention internationally, it is not until children in NSW government schools are well into their fourth year of schooling that any form of systematic or formal assessment is made (for example, the Basic Skills Test is given to Year 3 and Year 5 students in NSW). By this time, vast differences are already evident in children's mathematical abilities (Fuson, 1988; Wright, 1994a; Young-Loveridge, 1989). Numeracy, and its identification as a fundamental aspect of education, has been recognised for some time. However, Commonwealth government attention to numeracy and its relation to school education, has only been quite recent. It has now taken on a leading role in ensuring that numeracy, along with literacy, is made a national goal. In 1997, the Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers agreed to a national literacy and numeracy goal: