Are there directional longitudinal associations between school reading and mathematics achievement?

Conflicting claims exist in the literature on the direction of the effects between reading and mathematics. This study used the random intercept cross‐lagged panel model (RI‐CLPM) in a larger sample to assess directional associations across grades 3, 5, 7 and 9 using longitudinal data of the National Assessment Program of Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). The population data comprised all 87,610 New South Wales school students in grade 3 of 2012. The RI‐CLPMs showed large positive directional effects from reading to subsequent mathematics in primary school and the start of secondary school (grades 3 to 5 and 5 to 7). Also, between grades 3 and 5, the models showed large positive directional effects in the opposite direction, mathematics to subsequent reading. The longitudinal studies reviewed show heterogeneity.