What is DMG?
What is the Developmental Math Group?
We are a small company that specializes in information and products in Pre-number Concepts, Number Concepts, Operations, and other Math Concepts for preschool and school age learners.
Our Mission
It is our mission to facilitate the development of young mathematicians and educational practices by providing developmentally appropriate math assessments, information, and materials to be used with children ages 3 to age 8.
Why create DMG?
In a global economy with the vast majority of jobs requiring more sophisticated skills than in the past, American educators and business leaders have expressed strong concerns about students' mathematics achievement.
Studies show that there are vast differences in children from different backgrounds as they enter elementary school at different levels of readiness for a standards-based mathematics curriculum.
These differences raise serious concerns of equity regarding children's pre-kindergarten experiences and elementary schools' readiness to adapt instruction to children at different levels of mathematical development. Studies show that these children need to build the informal knowledge that provides the basis for later learning of mathematics. Thus, equity demands that we establish guidelines for quality early mathematics education for all children.
According to the Glenn Commission report (2000), "at the daybreak of this new century and millennium ... the future well-being of our nation and people depends not just on how well we educate our children in general, but on how well we educate them in mathematics and science specifically".
In 2000, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) released new math standards that include pre- kindergartners for the first time. States are creating or modifying their own mathematics standards and curriculum guidelines for pre-k and K children. Nevertheless, at present, most teachers and caregivers do not know what to do about mathematics for the young children.
That is where we come in! The Developmental Math Assessment (DMA) is based on the latest standards and research. Instructional materials and activities have been developed to facilitate conceptual understandings.
Above information cited from: Engaging Young Children in Mathematics, Edited by Clements and Sarama, 2004