The Importance of Number Sense to Mathematics Achievement in First and Third Grade

Children's symbolic number sense was examined at the beginning of first grade with a short screen of
competencies related to counting, number knowledge, and arithmetic operations. Conventional mathematics
achievement was then assessed at the end of both first and third grades. Controlling for age and cognitive
abilities (i.e., language, spatial, and memory), number sense made a unique and meaningful contribution to
the variance in mathematics achievement at both first and third grades. Furthermore, the strength of the
predictions did not weaken over time. Number sense was most strongly related to the ability to solve applied
mathematics problems presented in various contexts. The number sense screen taps important intermediate
skills that should be considered in the development of early mathematics assessments and interventions.