Assessment of Early Mathematics Skills of Preschool Children According to Socioeco-nomic Status

This study aims to evaluate the early mathematics skills of children aged 60 to 72 months attend-ing kindergartens in Ankara and to develop a skill profile based on the assessment results. A total of 300 children (152 girls and 148 boys) from various socioeconomic backgrounds, en-rolled in either independent kindergartens or preschool classes within primary schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education, were included in the study. The children's mathematical skills were assessed using the Early Mathematics Skills Assessment Tool (MATBED), which was specifically developed for preschool children and validated through reliability and validity stud-ies. MATBED consists of five subtests: Digit Recognition, Addition-Subtraction, Grouping, Pat-tern, and Geometry. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS in two stages. In the first stage, descriptive statistics of the scores obtained from MATBED were presented, and the distribution of results across each subtest was examined. In the second stage, the study explored whether early mathematics skills varied according to socioeconomic status. Overall, the results indicated that while participants demonstrated sufficient skills in digit recognition and patterning, they showed lower proficiency in addition-subtraction, grouping, and geometry. Significant differ-ences were also found between children from higher and lower socioeconomic groups. The re-sults suggest that while certain early mathematics skills are sufficiently supported in preschool education, other foundational domains—especially those requiring conceptual understanding—remain underdeveloped. The study highlights the importance of early identification of skill-specific weaknesses and emphasizes the need for curriculum-aligned, developmentally appro-priate instructional strategies, particularly for children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.