We have had several enquiries from schools asking if it is recommended to put students in Year 3 or below on QuickSmart Numeracy and/or Literacy. The short answer is no.

QuickSmart was originally developed for students in Years 5 to 8 (ages 10 to 14). Over the past two decades, data* sent to the SiMERR National Research Centre by schools has shown that it can also work for students in Years 4 and 9, however, we do not recommend it at all for use in Year 3, and certainly not for any years below Year 3.

A lot of schools run the QuickSmart programs in Year 4, and the assessment data indicates that those students can certainly improve on the program. However, there are still some concerns that require consideration before running the program in that year, particularly with younger students.

These concerns are highlighted below, and they also provide concrete reasoning against putting a child in Year 3 or below on the program:

• The students have not had sufficient classroom time to be automatic in their basic facts yet.
• Some students don’t have the emotional resilience at a young age to cope with the pressure of time and accuracy (especially those who are young for their year).
• The students may not be developed enough to achieve the target response time. Response time is developmental and young children take longer to process information.
• The students may take much longer to complete the course as, being younger, they would progress slower.

Our fundamental belief is to not stress students. Instructors need to gauge the situation carefully when younger children are involved.

Remember, QuickSmart was designed to give learners a second chance, and they can’t have a second chance before having had a first chance!

For more information, please contact our research team via quicksmart@une.edu.au.

*School data can be viewed in our annual reports: https://simerr.une.edu.au/quicksmart/program-evidence/