Indicator: Developmental progress: cognition

Definition

Children develop and demonstrate progress toward foundational math and scientific reasoning skills.

Recommended Metric(s)

Percentage of children meeting benchmarks on a teacher- or parent-observed developmental assessment, 

Example Instruments

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Percentage of children meeting benchmarks on a teacher- or parent-observed developmental assessment

CEDS Connections offer guidance, including data elements and step-by-step analysis recommendations, for how to calculate select metrics

Or, percentage of children meeting benchmarks on direct child assessments

Example Instruments

Not finding an instrument that suits your needs? Visit EdInstruments.org for more measurement tools.

View CEDS Connection

Percentage of children meeting benchmarks on direct child assessments

CEDS Connections offer guidance, including data elements and step-by-step analysis recommendations, for how to calculate select metrics

 

Type(s) of Data Needed

Assessments

Why it matters

Children’s cognition, including math and scientific reading skills, is essential for a growing number of tasks.1 Children’s early skills in this domain set the course for their later achievement, with the skills that children demonstrate at an early age being the strongest predictors of their later school achievement.2, 3, 4, 5 For math skills in particular, disparities by race, ethnicity, and income appear early and widen during early childhood.6, 7 Compared with White children, Black and Latino children enter kindergarten 9 to 10 months behind in math skills, on average.8 As noted in the E-W system conditions section of this report, there is inequitable access to quality pre-K education that promotes positive outcomes for all children.

Note: This indicator has been updated from ‘kindergarten readiness’ to ‘developmental progress’ to reflect a child’s growth across developmental milestones rather than being ready at a single point in time. This term also aligns with the System Transformation for Equitable Preschools (STEP Forward with Data) Framework (Child Trends, November 2023). Alternate terms for developmental progress may include kindergarten readiness, school readiness, and/or early child development and progress. 

What to know about measurement

This indicator’s measurement considerations are similar to those noted under the developmental progress: language and literacy indicator. Children’s cognition skills can be measured through direct child assessments, but assessments that ask teachers to report and rate children’s skill development are increasingly common and less burdensome to implement at scale. For example, the DRDP has one subscale that measures cognition, including math and science skills. These items ask teachers to rate children’s development of number sense, measurement, patterning, shape recognition, cause and effect, inquiry through observation and investigation, and understanding of objects and their characteristics. As noted in the developmental progress: language and literacy indicator discussion, these assessments should only be used for formative purposes.

In the System Transformation for Equitable Preschools Framework, Child Trends emphasizes the importance of using multiple forms of evidence to assess a child’s developmental progress. This could include observational or direct child assessments, as well as information from parents, pediatricians, counselors, therapists, or other organizations serving the child. Using multiple forms of evidence can help ensure that preschool systems do not over-rely on a single source that might not be culturally or developmentally appropriate for the child, as well as provide information that is meaningful for families.9

Source frameworks

Developmental progress or a related term, such as kindergarten readiness, appeared in 10 source frameworks reviewed for this report. Our proposed definition and measures align with the five domains of school readiness summarized in the Getting Ready framework, prepared by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, which are also included in the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework.

References

    • 9

      See Bui Lin et al. (2024).

    • 1

      National Mathematics Advisory Panel. (2008). Foundations for success: The final report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel. U.S. Department of Education. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED500486 

    • 2

      Bailey, D. H., Siegler, R. S., & Geary, D. C. (2014). Early predictors of middle school fraction knowledge. Developmental science, 17(5), 775-785. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12155 

    • 3

      Siegler, R. S., Duncan, G. J., Davis-Kean, P. E., Duckworth, K., Claessens, A., Engel, M., Susperreguy, M. I., & Chen, M. (2012). Early predictors of high school mathematics achievement. Psychological Science, 23(7), 691–697. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612440101 

    • 4

      Claessens, A., Duncan, G., & Engel, M. (2009). Kindergarten skills and fifth-grade achievement: Evidence from the ECLS-K. Economics of Education Review, 28(4), 415-427. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ842061 

    • 5

      Duncan, G. J., Claessens, A., Huston, A. C., Pagani, L. S., Engel, M., Sexton, H., Dowsett, C. J., Magnuson, K., Klevanov, P., Feinstein, L., Brooks-Gunn, J., Duckworth, K., & Japel, C. (2007). School readiness and later achievement. Developmental Psychology, 43(6), 1428–1446. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1428 

    • 6

      Klibanoff, R. S., Levine, S. C., Huttenlocher, J., Vasilyeva, M., & Hedges, L. V. (2006). Preschool children's mathematical knowledge: The effect of teacher "math talk.". Developmental psychology, 42(1), 59. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.1.59

    • 7

      Sarama, J., Lange, A. A., Clements, D. H., & Wolfe, C. (2012). The impacts of an early mathematics curriculum on oral language and literacy. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 27(3), 489–502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.12.002 

    • 8

      Nores, M., & Barnett, S. (2014). Access to high quality early care and education: Readiness and opportunity gaps in America. Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED555707