The road to better math scores begins with early numeracy
By Dale Chu
Conversations about assessment often begin with state test scores. But by the time students take their first statewide assessment, many of the skills that drive later math achievement have already begun to take shape.
For years, pediatricians have encouraged parents to read aloud to young children because those interactions help build language development and later reading success. The initiative asks whether the same public health model could apply to early numeracy. A letter signed by six governors asks the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Surgeon General to consider issuing similar guidance encouraging regular parent-child math play through board and card games that build foundational numeracy.
The research base behind early numeracy interventions is compelling. Studies find that simple number games help young children develop number sense, counting, magnitude comparison, and other foundational mathematical skills. These gains have been observed across diverse student populations and through interventions that require little specialized training or expense.
Just as important, the benefits extend beyond the games themselves. When parents and children play together, they naturally engage in conversations about numbers, quantities, patterns, and strategies. Those interactions strengthen mathematical language and reasoning while making math feel like a regular part of family life rather than something confined to school.
None of this replaces high-quality instruction or rigorous assessment. But it reminds us that improving student outcomes requires attention to what happens long before students sit for a state assessment. If we want higher math achievement, we should be just as interested in expanding opportunities to build early numeracy as we are in refining the tests that measure it.
If you’re interested in learning more or supporting the initiative, visit the We Are All Solvers website and join the call for National Guidance on Early Numeracy.
The road to better math scores begins with early numeracy
By Dale Chu
Conversations about assessment often begin with state test scores. But by the time students take their first statewide assessment, many of the skills that drive later math achievement have already begun to take shape.
That’s why a new initiative from We Are All Solvers deserves attention. It asks a simple question: What if we treated early numeracy the way we’ve learned to treat early literacy?
For years, pediatricians have encouraged parents to read aloud to young children because those interactions help build language development and later reading success. The initiative asks whether the same public health model could apply to early numeracy. A letter signed by six governors asks the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Surgeon General to consider issuing similar guidance encouraging regular parent-child math play through board and card games that build foundational numeracy.
The research base behind early numeracy interventions is compelling. Studies find that simple number games help young children develop number sense, counting, magnitude comparison, and other foundational mathematical skills. These gains have been observed across diverse student populations and through interventions that require little specialized training or expense.
Just as important, the benefits extend beyond the games themselves. When parents and children play together, they naturally engage in conversations about numbers, quantities, patterns, and strategies. Those interactions strengthen mathematical language and reasoning while making math feel like a regular part of family life rather than something confined to school.
None of this replaces high-quality instruction or rigorous assessment. But it reminds us that improving student outcomes requires attention to what happens long before students sit for a state assessment. If we want higher math achievement, we should be just as interested in expanding opportunities to build early numeracy as we are in refining the tests that measure it.
If you’re interested in learning more or supporting the initiative, visit the We Are All Solvers website and join the call for National Guidance on Early Numeracy.