A new study is in the works looking at whether teaching math as early as preschool will help children improve in their later academic performance.

The math curriculum the researchers are focusing on emphasizes activities, including identifying shapes and amounts rather than rote learning, according to an article on NPR.org.

This week, the White House will hold a summit on early childhood education, the article said. The president “wants every 4-year-old to go to preschool, but the new Congress is unlikely to foot that bill.”

“Since last year, more than 30 states have expanded access to preschool,” the article said. “But there's still a lack of evidence about exactly what kinds of interventions are most effective in those crucial early years.”

A school in New York City, P.S. 43, has been chosen as “one of 69 high-poverty sites around New York City for a research study to test whether stronger math teaching can make all the difference for young kids.”

The study, funded by the Robin Hood Foundation, is “dedicated to ending poverty in New York.”

Pamela Morris, with research group MDRC, is the lead investigator.

"MDRC and the Robin Hood Foundation developed a partnership really with a broad goal, which is, they want to change the trajectories of low-income children, and to do so by focusing on preschool,” she said.

Morris said that there is “plenty of evidence on the long-term importance of preschool. But why math?”

A 2013 study by Greg Duncan at the University of California, the article said, “showed that math knowledge at the beginning of elementary school was the single most powerful predictor determining whether a student would graduate from high school and attend college.”

"We think math might be sort of a lever to improve outcomes for kids longer term," Morris said.

Clements, the article said, “is the creator of Building Blocks, the math curriculum being tested in this new study. Building Blocks is designed to be just the opposite: engaging, exciting and loud.”

"We want kids running around the classroom and bumping into mathematics at every turn."

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Article by Kassondra Granata, Education World Contributor