Systematic review of learning trajectories in early mathematics

Learning trajectories in early mathematics instruction have received increasing attention from policymakers, educators, curriculum developers, and researchers. They are generally deemed useful for guiding curriculum standards, instructional planning, and assessment. However, the specific contributions of learning trajectories to education and children’s learning are unclear. We review research over the last five years to describe what is known and what still needs to be learned about methods of development, refinement, and validation of the goals, developmental progressions, and instruction of learning trajectories in early mathematics and possible advantages and disadvantages in the educational application of learning trajectories. Findings illustrate the variety of methods in creating and evaluating learning trajectories and generally confirm the validity of existing LTs, although not for all topics or implementations. Developmental progressions are generally replicable and useful for describing children’s knowledge and competencies with major disagreements about DPs infrequent and refinements building upon previous results successfully. Similarly, studies generally support the efficacy of instructional activities and teaching strategies grounded in the LT approach and the benefits of continual formative evaluation and refinement of such activities, with caveats concerning their limitations. Finally, comparative studies, especially those with rigorous designs, support the efficacy of the LT approach vs. other pedagogical approaches.