Research-to-Practice Summary What do we know? Reflecting on changes in knowledge of mathematical development in preand in-service early childhood teachers

Abstract

This study examines whether students in early childhood
teacher education programs gained more
knowledge of early math development in 2017-2018
when compared to 2008. I compare data from each
period on pre- and in-service teachers’ knowledge
of mathematical development as measured by the
Knowledge of Mathematical Development Survey
(KMDS). I found that the KMDS mean scores of
students in each of the education groups (beginning
versus seniors versus math course) differed
within each collection year. In a statistical comparison
between the two collection periods, there was
no significant difference between the mean scores
from 2008 and 2017-2018 for the beginning group.
However, there was a significant difference between
2008 and 2017-2018 in mean scores in the seniors and
math course groups. Overall, all mean KMDS scores
were lower in 2017-2018 when compared to 2008.