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Tailoring Instruction to Improve Mathematics Skills in Preschools: A Randomized Evaluation

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  • Gallego, Francisco
  • Näslund-Hadley, Emma
  • Alfonso, Mariana

Abstract

Tailoring instruction to each student’s needs can produce significant learning gains. However, few programs have successfully implemented this approach. In this paper, we present the results of a randomized evaluation of a program that uses an inquiry with an individualized scaffolding approach to teach Mathematics to preschoolers in Peru. Our results suggest that the program improves overall Mathematics outcomes, and that it has stronger impact on students in the lower quintiles of the Mathematics outcomes distribution and on students whose teachers have university degrees. The effect on the content areas where the program was implemented more intensively persists even one year after the program ended. We find no evidence of differential effects by gender, language-spoken at home, and proxies for SES, in contrast with results from previous research that suggest Mathematics programs are biased along gender and socioeconomic lines.

Suggested Citation

  • Gallego, Francisco & Näslund-Hadley, Emma & Alfonso, Mariana, 2018. "Tailoring Instruction to Improve Mathematics Skills in Preschools: A Randomized Evaluation," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 8869, Inter-American Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:brikps:8869
    DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0001090
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; mathematics; early childhood development; RCT; Scaffolding;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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