High 5s is a small-group after school math enrichment program for kindergarteners who have previously been exposed to the Building Blocks preschool math curriculum. A study published by the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness assessed the success of this program with 655 kindergarten students in 24 schools who received the program three times a week for half an hour with a trained instructor.
The program was structured such that each meeting would consist of 2 short startup activities and conclude with a main activity. Every 4th day was a game day where students were allowed to choose from select activities. While student attendance was high, the quality of instruction varied across club leaders.
The results of the High 5s evaluation intervention were mixed:
- The study showed significantly higher math scores for the intervention students on an assessment that was closely aligned with the program curriculum.
- However, there were no significant benefits for students in the book clubs on a standardized measure of math achievement.
These mixed results illustrate that while additional enrichment clubs may improve some mathematics skills, further work is needed to examine how to ensure that these skills translate to more generalized assessments and tasks.