Plenty of research has shown that early math is an efficient way to strengthen children education and reduce the achievement gap. However, while you'll rarely find people saying they are not "a reading person," you'll find a surprising big number of people proud to tell you that they are not "a math person." Nowadays, it's fully normal for many parents to read regularly to or with their children. But, why is this kind of behavior much less frequent about mathematics?
One main reason is that most parents don't know how to teach math to their young kids. Less than 10 percent of children from low-income families are able to count to 20 in preschool, a basic skill strongly correlated to math performance in first grade. A factor that widens social and economic gaps even before students enter kindergarten. "Family math" is a great measure to solve this problem at the root. If early math practice would be as common as reading bedtime stories, it could help a lot to close the achievement gap and promote a better equity among the young generation.
Picture: Arcanys Early Learning Foundation
