Cognitive predictors of achievement growth in mathematics: A 5-year longitudinal study.

TLDR

The study aimed to identify first‑grade quantitative skills that predict math achievement and growth through fifth grade. First‑grade number, counting, and arithmetic skills were measured in 177 students and used to predict math achievement to fifth grade, controlling for intelligence, working memory, and processing speed. Intelligence, processing speed, and the central executive component of working memory predicted math achievement and growth, the phonological loop predicted word reading, the visuospatial sketchpad predicted math, and early fluency with numerical set size, Arabic numerals, sophisticated counting, and number‑line placement uniquely predicted math achievement, while memory‑based addition strategies predicted math and reading achievement differently, underscoring the distinct early quantitative competencies that drive math learning.

Abstract

The study's goal was to identify the beginning of 1st grade quantitative competencies that predict mathematics achievement start point and growth through 5th grade. Measures of number, counting, and arithmetic competencies were administered in early 1st grade and used to predict mathematics achievement through 5th (n = 177), while controlling for intelligence, working memory, and processing speed. Multilevel models revealed intelligence and processing speed, and the central executive component of working memory predicted achievement or achievement growth in mathematics and, as a contrast domain, word reading. The phonological loop was uniquely predictive of word reading and the visuospatial sketch pad of mathematics. Early fluency in processing and manipulating numerical set size and Arabic numerals, accurate use of sophisticated counting procedures for solving addition problems, and accuracy in making placements on a mathematical number line were uniquely predictive of mathematics achievement. Use of memory-based processes to solve addition problems predicted mathematics and reading achievement but in different ways. The results identify the early quantitative competencies that uniquely contribute to mathematics learning.