出版社：Australian Institutes for Educational Research
摘要：The aim of this study is to examine the mathematics skills of fourth-grade children fromKosovo in relation to their background characteristics. Seventy-six children, out of 233tested, who were identified with learning difficulties in mathematics were furtherassessed during fifth and sixth grades, in mathematics skills and reading comprehension.The findings showed that there were no gender differences in mathematics achievement,whereas children’s urban or rural locations as well as their socio-economic status wereobserved to have a substantial impact on mathematics performance of children in themain sample, but not for those in the subsample. For children with learning difficulties inmathematics, the initial level of reading skills was a powerful determinant of their latermathematics performance and the initial level of mathematics skills was also similarlypredictive of reading comprehension. The children’s background characteristics did notadd explanatory variance in performance outcomes over their previous mathematics andreading skills learned during the first years of primary school. The high associationbetween mathematics performance and reading comprehension suggests thatmathematics and reading problems may result from a similar cognitive background.
