"Numeracy in the early years: Project good start" was a national project that commenced in 2001, and will conclude this year. The key objective of the project is to improve children's early numeracy outcomes by investigating the practices and learning experiences that support the numeracy development of a sample of children in the year before school and in their first year of formal schooling. Case studies of some of these children were also prepared and analysed. Children's before-school experiences (including at home, and in preschool and childcare settings) and first year of school experiences were examined, with a particular focus on factors affecting early numeracy development. The project investigated the effects of children's backgrounds (for example, geographically isolated, rural, low socioeconomic urban areas, and areas with high indigenous populations); the different numeracy programs that these children encounter; the beliefs of parents and practitioners regarding numeracy development and learning; effective teaching strategies in numeracy and the identification of "at risk" children in numeracy. (Contains 2 figures.)