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Strengthening school readiness for Head Start children: Evaluation of a self-regulation intervention
Abstract
The present study examined the efficacy of a self-regulation intervention for children experiencing demographic risk. Utilizing a randomized controlled design, analyses examined if children (N = 276 children in 14 Head Start classrooms; M age = 51.69, SD = 6.55) who participated in an 8-week self-regulation intervention demonstrated greater gains in self-regulation and academic achievement over the preschool year compared to children in a control group. In addition, indirect intervention effects on achievement outcomes through self-regulation were explored and differential intervention effects for English language learners within a sample of children from low-income families were tested. Results indicated that children in the intervention group demonstrated stronger levels of self-regulation compared to the control group in the spring of the preschool year. Group comparisons also revealed that the intervention was related to significantly higher math skills for children who were English language learners. In other words, English language learners who participated in the intervention demonstrated stronger levels of math in the spring of preschool in comparison to children in the control group and relative to English speakers who also participated in the intervention. The present study provides support for the efficacy of a school readiness intervention in promoting self-regulation and achievement in young children, especially English language learners.
... Children were given a score of 0 for an incorrect response, 1 for a self-corrected response, and 2 for a correct response. A great number of studies suggest that the HTKS is a valid and reliable measure of self-regulation for children in several countries (Cameron Ponitz et al., 2008;Gestsdottir et al., 2014;McClelland et al., 2007;McClelland et al., 2014;Schmitt et al., 2015;von Suchodoletz et al., 2013;Wanless, McClelland, Acock, Chen, & Chen, 2011). ...
... The guardians and teachers rate questions on a scale of one to five: 'The child never/rarely/sometimes/frequently or usually/always exhibits the behaviour described by the item.' Example items include: 'Attempts new challenging tasks,' and 'Observes rules and follows directions without requiring repeated reminders'. Previous research has found that the CBRS is significantly related to children's self-regulation skills and academic achievement (Gestsdottir et al., 2014;McClelland et al., 2007;Schmitt et al., 2015;von Suchodoletz et al., 2013;Wanless et al., 2011). ...
... Previous studies have shown that children can learn selfregulation skills when explicitly taught in interventions (e.g. McClelland et al., 2017;Schmitt et al., 2015). However, the applicability of the programmes has not always been optimal. ...
Self-regulation skills are fundamental for a child’s development and learning. Yet, problems in self-regulation are common and several programmes with varying results have been created to overcome them. In this article, we have reported on a controlled ten-week intervention study. Twenty-eight children aged 4–7 years and with poor self-regulation skills participated in their Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centres. The intervention programme, entitled Kids’ Skills, is based on a strength-based and solution-focused perspective. Compared with the 15-child control group, the intervention group showed significant progress. The Kids’ Skills intervention made visible the teacher’s strong engagement to develop children’s self-regulation skills and the positive interaction, such as how the teacher supports the child in challenging situations. The Kids’ Skills’ strength-based pedagogy, emphasizing that rather than the child being a problem, the child and the teacher work together to solve the child’s problem, increases the child’s involvement and their development of self-regulation skills.
... Each of the 19 studies [1,[46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63] included for final analysis were reviewed to ensure the data analyses performed were specifically and appropriately reporting intervention effects (i.e., growth in intervention group compared to a control condition). Two studies [64,65] were excluded from the analysis because intervention effects were not reported and could not be computed from the published data. ...
... In all cases, not all components of autonomy were included. For instance, children in the Red Light, Purple Light (RLPL) interventions by Duncan et al. [63] and Schmitt et al. [56] were only given opportunities to share control through leading circle-time games (not choice), while Shiu et al.'s [62] program gave children choice and opportunities to lead in story-telling activities (not shared control). Yet another commonality of these studies was that they also included the challenge aspect of competency, although did not explicitly mention use of encouragement and feedback. ...
... Yet another commonality of these studies was that they also included the challenge aspect of competency, although did not explicitly mention use of encouragement and feedback. The RLPL study by Schmitt et al. [56] [55] study: first, that children were not assigned to intervention or control classrooms, but rather randomly assigned to condition; and second, the intervention occurred outside of the classroom. Schmitt et al. [55] therefore evaluated the RLPL program as a classroom-based intervention. ...
Self-regulation (SR) is considered foundational in early life, with robust evidence demonstrating a link between early self-regulation and longer-term outcomes. This has been the impetus for a growing body of intervention research into how best to support early SR development, yet approaches and effects are diverse, which complicates an understanding of the critical characteristics for effective early SR intervention. Using Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as a guiding framework, we present a scoping review of early SR-intervention research to identify the characteristics of pre-school interventions that show significant and strong effects on young children’s SR. Studies from peer-reviewed journal articles were included if they evaluated a SR intervention with pre-school children, were published between 2010 and 2020, written in English, and included a SR outcome measure. This yielded 19 studies, each reporting the efficacy of a different SR intervention. Results showed that content factors (what interventions do) interacted with their implementation (how, when, and by whom interventions are implemented) to discriminate the more versus less efficacious interventions. Through the lens of SDT, results further suggested that targeting competence through encouragement and feedback, and nurturing children’s autonomy distinguished more from less effective interventions. Relatedness was least able to discriminate intervention efficacy.
... Importantly, self-regulation can be practiced and improved (Diamond and Ling, 2016), and self-regulation interventions may serve as a mechanism to protect children at risk (Sasser et al., 2017;Pandey et al., 2018). Large-scale classroom curricula that combine self-regulation and academic skills have shown mixed effects (Farran et al., 2013;Blair and Raver, 2014;Morris et al., 2014), but targeted self-regulation interventions that can easily be implemented in the classroom have shown positive effects across both self-regulation and academic domains (Tominey and McClelland, 2011;Schmitt et al., 2015;McClelland et al., 2019). ...
... Especially important for school readiness skills, self-regulation is related broadly to early aspects of math and emergent literacy (McClelland et al., 2007a(McClelland et al., , 2014Schmitt et al., 2017), especially early numeracy skills (counting, cardinality, numeral knowledge), which is most predictive of later mathematics achievement (Nguyen et al., 2016). Moreover, self-regulation interventions have shown significant effects on children's math and literacy (Blair and Raver, 2014;Schmitt et al., 2015;Pandey et al., 2018) and may be especially predictive of early math skills (Allan et al., 2014;McClelland et al., 2014;Purpura et al., 2017). ...
... In previous studies evaluating the RLPL program, effects have been found for children's improvements in self-regulation (Schmitt et al., 2015;Duncan et al., 2018), especially those with low baseline levels of self-regulation (Tominey and McClelland, 2011), early math skills (Duncan et al., 2018), particularly for low socioeconomic (McClelland et al., 2019) and low-SES DLL children (Schmitt et al., 2015) and early literacy skills (Tominey and McClelland, 2011;Duncan et al., 2018). These effects are supported by other research showing that classrooms characterized by consistent, organized classroom practices lead to better academic outcomes for children (Cameron et al., 2008;Cameron and Morrison, 2011). ...
Early childhood interventions can improve self-regulation, but there are few economic evaluations of such interventions. This study analyzed the cost-effectiveness of an early childhood self-regulation intervention (Red Light Purple Light!; RLPL), comparing three different models of implementation across stages of intervention development: (Model 1) trained research assistants (RAs; graduate students) directly delivered the RLPL intervention to children; (Model 2) RAs trained trainers (e.g., program coaches), who then trained teachers to implement RLPL with children (e.g., train-the-trainer); and (Model 3) program faculty trained teachers to deliver the RLPL intervention to children. We implemented a cost-effectiveness analysis by calculating the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. We also conducted a series of sensitivity analyses to adjust for parameter uncertainty. Our base-case analysis suggests that Model 2 was the most cost-effective strategy, in that a cost of $23 per child was associated with a one-unit increase of effect size on self-regulation scores. The “train-the-trainer” model remained the optimal strategy across scenarios in our sensitivity analysis. This study fills an important gap in cost-effectiveness analyses on early childhood self-regulation interventions. Our process and results can serve as a model for future cost-effectiveness analyses of early childhood intervention programs and may ultimately inform decisions related to intervention adoption that optimize resource allocation and improve program design.
... The games increase in complexity over time and focus on improving attention, working memory, and inhibitory control. Several studies have trialled this intervention and found that it leads to more improvements in the targeted skills (i.e., attention, working memory, and inhibitory control) and academic achievement when compared control conditions involving the early education curriculum as usual [14][15][16] . Keown et al. 17 conduced a randomized controlled trial of RLPL with similar results to those of the studies mentioned prior; but this study also measured changes in more general self-regulatory abilities within the classroom to indicate generalisability of skills. ...
... Numerous early childhood curriculum, play-based programmes exist, most focusing primarlity on executive functioning, a key factor in self-regualation but not all encompassing. All of these programmes been led to improved cognitive function [14][15][16][17][18][19]22 but none have led to robust findings of behavior change [17][18][19] . There are many possible reasons for this, one being the narrow focus on executive functions, another being the lack of purposeful genralisation of skills. ...
Poor self-regulation has been associated with an array of adverse outcomes including difficulties with school transition, educational attainment, and social functioning in childhood, and employment, mental health, physical health, relationships, and criminal activity in adulthood. Enhancing Neurobehavioural Gains with the Aid of Games and Exercises (ENGAGE) is a play-based intervention fostering the development of self-regulation in pre-schoolers and has led to improvements within the home setting. The aim for this study was to ascertain whether ENGAGE can be implemented within an Early Childhood Education (ECE) group setting and whether this leads to improved self-regulation. This trial has been registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR); trial number ACTRN12622000364774; trial web address: https://www.anzctr.org.au/ACTRN12622000364774.aspx . 668 children aged 3–5 years and their teachers, across 28 ECEs participated. Children’s self-regulation skills were assessed via scores on the Hyperactivity, Aggression, and Attention Problems subscales of BASC-2. Results indicted no significant changes in self-regulation skills across a 10-week waitlist period. Following 10 weeks of the ENGAGE programme, significant improvements in self-regulation were reported, and these were maintained at 2- and 6-month follow-up. These findings indicate that ENGAGE translates well into the ECE setting and has the potential to have population-based impacts which could lead to more positive societal outcomes.
... In one study, in spite of living in challenging socioeconomic circumstances, those children with strong self-regulation had stronger academic success at the end of first grade compared to children experiencing the same risk factors who had weaker self-regulation (Sektnan et al., 2010). Thus, promoting self-regulation may be an effective way to strengthen school success especially in children from disadvantaged backgrounds (McClelland et al., 2019, Schmitt et al., 2015. Although further research is needed on the dynamic interactions between different potential pathways of influence, it is clear that lower socioeconomic status is a risk factor for having difficulty with self-regulation Raver, 2015, Blair andRaver, 2012a). ...
... These activities help children practice stopping and starting behaviors using complex rules that they have to hold in their memory throughout the game. Researchers have found that these activities have significantly improved behavioral selfregulation and academic achievement in preschool children with effects especially strong for low-income children (Schmitt et al., 2015, Tominey and McClelland, 2011, McClelland et al., 2019. ...
This article reviews research on children's self-regulation, including cognitive or behavioral aspects of regulation, which are important for a range of social and cognitive outcomes. Theoretical bases and definitions of self-regulation are reviewed along with links to important indicators of interest in childhood and early adulthood. Important individual and contextual factors influencing the development of self-regulation are also described. The measurement of self-regulation is reviewed, including examples of directly-assessed and questionnaire-based measures of cognitive and behavioral self-regulation. Implications for practice are described, including school-based interventions and interventions in adulthood. Finally, future directions in the field of self-regulation research are discussed.
... Some SEL programs that are specifically designed to target EF skill development, such as the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP; Watts et al., 2018) andRed Light, Purple Light (McClelland et al., 2019;Schmitt et al., 2015;Tominey & McClelland, 2011), have yielded promising results. One study, for instance, found that children who were enrolled in the CSRP as preschoolers exhibited stronger EF skills as adolescents 10 and 11 years later . ...
... One study, for instance, found that children who were enrolled in the CSRP as preschoolers exhibited stronger EF skills as adolescents 10 and 11 years later . Similarly, studies have found that preschoolers who participated in Red Light, Purple Light showed significantly greater gains in EF relative to peers in business as usual (BAU) classrooms (Schmitt et al., 2015;Tominey & McClelland, 2011). Nevertheless, recent research has also suggested that SEL programs may still be beneficial for students' EF skill development even if they do not specifically target EF skills directly. ...
Conscious Discipline is a classroom management program that targets relationship building and socio-emotional learning to improve students' academic performance, as well as executive function (EF) and social skills. Past studies evaluating the effectiveness of this program, however, are limited and have yielded mixed results. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between preschool teachers' Conscious Discipline fidelity and students' kindergarten readiness and social skill development. This study included 873 preschool-aged students from 146 classrooms that used the Conscious Discipline program. We found that Conscious Discipline fidelity was significantly associated with students' EF skill gains, which in turn predicted outcomes on students' overall kindergarten readiness scores as well as their scores on evaluations of their language and literacy, math, social foundations, and physical development specifically. Results suggest that EF skill development mediates the relationship between preschool teachers' Conscious Discipline fidelity and students' kindergarten readiness scores.
... In the same way that each country has its own preschool curriculum, each school offers support programs implemented based on the needs of that school. It is seen that several support programs which have been applied for readiness for primary school, particularly in recent years are usually divided into two: family support programs (Mathis & Bierman, 2015;Landry et al., 2017;Padilla & Ryan, 2018;Prendergast & MacPhee, 2018;Wolf & McCoy, 2019) and child support programs (Atteberry, Bassok, & Wong, 2019;Brown, Garnett, Velazquez-Martin, & Mellor, 2018;Duncan, Schmitt, Burke, & McClelland, 2017;Kybartas et al., 2019;Schmitt, McClelland, Tominey, & Acock, 2015;Toran, Aydin, & Etguer, 2019). Considering the structure of child support programs, there are studies such as the full-day program applications which increase the daily hours of the existing program to support the readiness of children for primary school (Atteberry, Bassok, & Wong, 2019) or specially-designed school readiness programmes (Mercan-Uzun, & Alat, 2015;Pears et al., 2014;Watts et al., 2018). ...
... Furthermore, there are several studies in literature which are similar to this research and promote school readiness skills of children with different programs or methods that were not exclusively designed as school preparation program. For example, the effect of narrative-based education (Ozsari, 2017), integration of art practices (Brown et al., 2018), education of self-regulation skills (Duncan et al., 2017;Schmitt et al., 2015), montessori method (Yildirim, 2019) and project approach-based education (Dizman-Ozaslan, 2010) on school readiness skills of children are seen. However, literature does not contain any study that scrutinizes the development of pre-schooler's school readiness skills by using mind maps. ...
In the changing and developing world, the methods and approaches which promote learning experiences of individuals develop at the same pace. If such methods are integrated into the education system as an alternative to traditional teaching methods, it will enrich the learning experience for children and provide teachers with an opportunity to reach more children. As part of this, the research aims to use the mind mapping method to develop school readiness skills of preschoolers. This study was designed with a quantitative research procedure and was planned using a quasi-experimental design. The working group for the study was made up of 44 children, of which, 21 belong to the experimental group and 23 the control group. For the first step of the study, teachers were given mind mapping training and later the children in the experimental group were subjected to mind mapping applications in 22 themes (school, numbers, shapes, our healty, cooperation, emotions, nature…), comprising 7 large group and 15 individual mind mapping applications. The mind map theme of the week was covered every day in that week's program. As a result of the study, a significant difference in scores for school readiness skills between the experimental and control groups was revealed for all sub-dimensions in favour of the experimental group. The study indicates that the mind mapping technique applied with the children in the experimental group supports their readiness for primary school considerably.
... The present study also builds on work in psychology and education investigating how structured curricula affect child development (e.g. Dillon et al. 2017, Clements and Sarama 2011, Schmitt et al. 2015, Diamond et al. 2007). This literature suggests that detailed age-appropriate curricular foci that intentionally and systematically target school readiness skills through play-based activities, along with teacher training, are key determinants of child development in preschool (Burchinal 2018). ...
... The teachers committed to spending at least eight hours a week for nine months (almost the full preschool year) engaging the five-yearolds in the curriculum, separate from five-year-olds' larger classrooms that also included three-and four-year-olds. The curriculum has 130 learning activities, which we developed in collaboration with Norwegian preschool teachers (Schmitt et al. 2015). A playful learning approach permeates all the activities, in that the activities were interactive, engaging, and meaningful (Weisberg, Hirsh-Pasek, and Golinkoff 2013), and the curriculum emphasizes a warm and responsive child-teacher relationship (Pianta 1999). ...
... In RLPL, children play a series of five music and movement-based games during circle time (for example, having children start and stop moving based on particular cues), with systematic adaptations designed to make the games increasingly challenging over the 16 week intervention. In one recent trial, Schmitt et al. (2015) randomized classrooms to either the RLPL intervention, implemented over the course of 8 weeks during two short playgroups, or a business-as-usual control group. Children in the intervention group showed statistically significant improvement relative to control students on direct assessments of EFs [Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) and Head Toes Knees and Shoulders (HTKS); Cohen's d = 0.16 and 0.32, respectively]. ...
... For children with parents with low educational attainment, EFs and math skills improved significantly at posttest (effect sizes not reported). Consistent with Schmitt et al. (2015), a limitation is that the teacher was not involved in delivering the intervention; however, a strength of this approach is that it mimics a concrete classroom practice that can be integrated into everyday classroom teacher practice. Re-structuring block play, a common activity in preschool classrooms, to include increasingly challenging structured prompts may be a relevant and scalable approach that appears to improve key outcomes for sub-groups of children who are likely to struggle. ...
This paper reports results from an impact study of Brain Games (BGs), a classroom-based intervention designed to build preschool and school-aged children’s executive functions (EFs) and related self-regulation skills. The study employed a classroom-randomized, experimental design with 626 students in 36 pre-K through fourth grade classrooms in charter schools in a mid-sized urban district. In one set of models with child covariates, children in intervention classrooms showed marginal positive impacts on regulation-related behaviors, attention control and impulsivity, and negative effects on global EF and marginal increases in discipline problems. A second set of models with a smaller sample and both child and classroom covariates included indicate positive impacts of BGs on global EFs, prosocial behavior, and attention control and impulsivity. There were no significant impacts on the teacher–student relationship as reported by the teacher or on direct assessments of inhibitory control, short term and working memory, or another measure of global EF in either set of models. These promising findings offer a signal that implementation of targeted, easy to implement intervention approaches in classroom contexts can influence children’s regulation-related and prosocial outcomes, but this signal should be investigated further with larger and more tightly controlled designs.
... An initial evaluation of this intervention demonstrated no treatment effect on EF, except for children of the lowest EF scores (effect size= .34). However, a RLPL evaluation in a lower-income sample (Head Start) than the original evaluation revealed an intervention effect on EF for the whole sample (d=.32; Schmitt et al., 2015). Additionally, when RLPL was combined with a kindergarten readiness intervention (Bridge to Kindergarten) for low-income children with no preschool experience, children in the intervention group made statistically significant more gains in EF compared to Bridge to Kindergarten classrooms that did not receive the RLPL component (d=.34;Duncan et al., 2018). ...
... For EF-only interventions in preschool, the overarching consensus is that they have small or null impacts on children's academic achievement (Jacob & Parkinson, 2015), and for impacts on EF skills, there is some evidence that they benefit children with low baseline EF skills, dual language learners, and children of lower SES (Tominey & McClelland, 2011;Raver et al., 2011;Schmitt et al., 2015). In order to determine whether or not the field should continue to pursue EF-only interventions, it is important to isolate whether the problem is that the theory of change (e.g., exercising/scaffolding EF will impact EF) is simply not working, or if the fidelity of implementation tools used are faulty in some sense. ...
Given the well-documented relation between executive functioning (EF) and math skills in preschool, there is a surprising lack of evidence on early intervention approaches that have successfully, and consistently, impacted both EF and math skills. To confront this gap in the literature, Study 1 explored why an established EF intervention impacted children’s math skills and not EF. Study II examined whether explicitly combining EF and math content may impact both children’s math and EF skills. And finally, Study III examined the feasibility of combined math/EF content in the classroom, and identified barriers to coaching, teacher implementation, and teacher understanding of the intervention components. Overall, this dissertation highlights the complexity of how early interventions impact EF and math skills and discusses the implications for research and practice.
... Accordingly, previous studies have also shown that preschool SR and SRL can be fostered through targeted interventions (e.g. Perels et al., 2009;Schmitt et al., 2015). Because the present study evaluates the effectiveness and transferability of a training program for preschoolers' SRL, the findings regarding SRL trainings are discussed below. ...
Self-regulation (SR) as well as self-regulated learning (SRL) show large interindividual variance in preschoolers. This variance may result in differential developmental trajectories. The present study aims to investigate whether a reduction in interindividual differences over time, which could previously be found for preschoolers' SR, is also present for SRL. Furthermore, the present study aims to explore whether preschool SRL training transfers to SR and whether training effects visible in SRL depend on initial performance. A sample of 94 preschoolers participated in this intervention study. Children were assigned to either a training group or to an active control group. Additionally, the sample was divided into high- and low-SRL preschoolers based on pretest SRL performance. Repeated measures ANCOVAs revealed that in the active control group, differences between high- and low-SRL preschoolers decreased over time. The training group showed a greater increase in SRL than the active control group. Training-induced increases did not vary between high- and low-SRL preschoolers. Additionally, increases in SR were identical for training and active control group. Further research on the transferability of preschool SRL training to SR is needed.
... In particular, the finding that higher SES children are already at an advantage in the development of self-regulation during the toddler years highlights the need for early interventions for lower SES children. Many programs have been designed and implemented to help support children's developing self-regulatory skills in the preschool and kindergarten classroom (Pandey et al., 2018;Schmitt et al., 2015;Ursache et al., 2012). Given that disparities in self-regulation may already be present prior to the start of these interventions, future work should explore the extent to which earlier intervention may be feasible. ...
A growing body of research has examined how children’s self-regulation during early and middle childhood mediates SES disparities in academic achievement. Evidence suggests that these self-regulation skills begin developing even earlier, during the toddler years, but more work is needed examining how different measures of self-regulation relate to key constructs such as socioeconomic status (SES) and toddlers’ pre-academic skills. In this online study, we examine multiple approaches to measuring self-regulation using confirmatory factor analyses and assess the extent to which self-regulatory skills help explain SES differences in early math and language skills among a sample of 158 two- and three-year-old children. Self-regulation was assessed through a battery of parent- and examiner-ratings. Children’s counting, cardinality, and vocabulary skills were measured online through direct assessments and parent surveys. Two self-regulation factors emerged representing parent-reported and observational measures, and only observational measures of self-regulation mediated associations between SES and children’s math and language skills. Parent-reported self-regulation was not uniquely related to SES or children’s pre-academic skills, underscoring the need for careful consideration of how self-regulation is measured among toddlers when examining its associations with pre-academic skills.
... From an educational perspective, self-regulation skills are continuously employed within the classroom setting, as learners must seamlessly coordinate multiple self-regulatory aspects: maintaining concentration, following instructions, and employing both motor and verbal functions to produce overt behaviours-all amidst the distractions of an active classroom environment (Duncan et al., 2018b). Therefore, holding such self-regulatory skills enables one to interpret, observe and control their own reactions to the environment in which they are situated, providing the foundations for school adjustment (Schmitt et al., 2015). Raver et al. (2011) study demonstrated that children who were offered a self-regulatory educational intervention showed a significantly higher levels of both school readiness and selfregulation in comparison to the control group. ...
This paper aims to give a contribution to the study of the impact of motor-development approaches to teaching Physical Education (PE) amongst primary year 1 and year 2 school pupils within the Scottish education system. The study implemented Better Movers and Thinkers (BMT) as a motor-development intervention across an 8-week period, amongst 30 pupils within primary 1and 2 in a Scottish school. Framed through a mixed-methods design, the study involved pre- and post-intervention testing of three quantitative outcome measures: cognitive-regulation, affective-regulation, and motor-regulation- assessed through the Response to Challenge Scale (RCS). To examine the perceptions of teachers and pupils upon the implementation of BMT, qualitative data was gathered via three pupil focus group interviews and through the reflective journals of four classroom teachers who had also the role of reflective observers throughout the study. Quantitative data revealed a significant effect when comparing pre and post-test conditions in the domains of cognitive-regulation (p=0.000) and affective-regulation (p=0.042) however, displayed no significance within the domain of motor-regulation (p=0.067). Analysis of qualitative data through both reflective journals and pupil focus groups revealed that as well as enjoying BMT as an intervention, pupils experienced further benefits such as improved wellbeing, confidence, and concentration within class. These data are very positive and the potential that BMT holds to develop both cognitive and affective-regulation amongst children is encouraging and should be further researched in order to promote motor-development approaches to PE throughout the mainstream curriculum.
... EFs enable humans to achieve goals, adjust to new life situations, and manage social interactions (Cristofori et al., 2019). EFs have been found to play a significant role in different aspects of children's development such as planning, decision making, and problem-solving (Miyake et al., 2000;Friedman et al., 2006), academic achievement (Blair and Razza, 2007;Best et al., 2011;Richland and Burchinal, 2013;Schmitt et al., 2015), classroom learning (Blair and Razza, 2007;Liew, 2012), school readiness (Bierman et al., 2008;Shaul and Schwartz, 2014), social-emotional development (Broidy et al., 2003;Ferrier et al., 2014), physical health (Riggs et al., 2010;Moffitt et al., 2011), and making and keeping friends (Hughes and Dunn, 1998). Language development is also one of the most important accomplishments of the preschool years and has been associated with many outcomes in life. ...
It has been demonstrated that executive functions play a significant role in different aspects of the development of children. Development of language is also one of the most important accomplishments of the preschool years, and it has been linked to many outcomes in life. Despite substantial research demonstrating the association between executive function and language development in childhood, only a handful of studies have examined the direction of the developmental pathways between EF skills and language skills, therefore little is known about how these two constructs are connected. In this review paper, we discuss three possible directional relationships between EFs and language development throughout childhood. First, we discuss how EF might affect language functioning. Next, we discuss how language functioning might affect EF. Lastly, we consider other possible relationships between EF and language. Given that children with better EF and language skills are more likely to succeed in educational settings and demonstrate greater social–emotional competencies, investigating the relationship between EF and language in the preschool period provides insight into mechanisms that have not been extensively studied. Furthermore, it could create new opportunities for designing effective and efficient interventions aimed at addressing EF and language deficits during the preschool period which could in turn influence later development.
... It is well established in the literature that children's positive experiences and development in ECE promote their longterm success (García et al., 2021;Melhuish et al., 2015). For example, children who demonstrated better self-regulation in preschool showed better school readiness when they entered kindergarten (Schmitt et al., 2015). In addition, children with higher levels of social competence in early childhood were more likely to succeed in formal schooling and experience fewer mental health issues than those who had lower levels of social skills (Jones et al., 2015). ...
Objectives
Early childhood educators play a significant role in creating social and emotional learning environments for children. Therefore, it is important that early childhood educators stay mindful to provide responsive and sensitive care and education for young children. The goal of this study is to examine to what extent five facets of teachers’ mindfulness (i.e., observing, describing, awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity) are associated with children’s social, emotional, and behavioral functioning, measured by anger/aggression, anxiety/withdrawal, social competence, and behavioral self-regulation.Methods
Using data collected from 329 preschool-aged children and their 52 teachers in 13 ECE programs, we conducted three-level multi-level analyses.ResultsDifferent aspects of mindfulness among teachers were differently associated with child outcomes after controlling for child and teacher demographics. Teachers’ observing was positively associated with children’s social competence and anger/aggression. When teachers report a higher level of describing, children had better social competence. In addition, teachers’ better awareness was significantly associated with lower levels of anxiety/withdrawal and anger/aggression. Teachers’ nonjudgmental mind was positively associated with children’s self-regulation.Conclusions
The findings revealed that teachers’ mindfulness is generally associated with children’s social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. This suggests the importance of teachers’ mindfulness in ECE settings and the need for addressing mindfulness in future research. Because different aspects of mindfulness were associated with different child outcomes, future research may consider the uniqueness of ECE teachers’ role when designing mindfulness interventions.
... For example, studies show that five-year-old children are already able to identify emotions and choose how to express them according to the situation in which they find themselves (45). On the other hand, when children are impulsive or find themselves in an unregulated environment it will be much more difficult for them to develop their emotional self-regulatory capacity (46). It is commonly thought that the emotional regulation ability usually matures toward early adulthood, and earlier in females-during adolescence (47). ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has shattered routines throughout the world, creating closures and social isolation. Preliminary studies conducted during the pandemic have shown that children and adolescents are mainly affected by social distancing and the lack of a supportive framework. The purpose of the present study was to compare mental health symptoms of 430 children and adolescents who sought mental health services in the community before vs. during the pandemic. The study examined children's perceived burden of the pandemic, reports of emotional and behavioral problems (SDQ) anxiety (SCARED), depressed moods (SMFQ-C), and difficulty in emotional regulation (DERS), as well as intervening variables such as age and gender. Furthermore, the effect of difficulty in emotional regulation on children's mental health symptoms was explored. Findings indicate an increase in all mental health symptoms excluding anxiety, during the pandemic. Boys reported more difficulty in emotional regulation during the pandemic than before, and girls reported more emotional and behavioral problems. Children reported an increase in emotional and behavioral problems and adolescents in peer relationship problems. Difficulty in emotional regulation predicted all mental health symptoms in both samples, more so in girls and adolescents. These initial findings support the need for further studies to examine the long-term mental health effects of COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents.
... An additional limitation of this study is the fact that a moderate proportion of the sample scored zero on the HTKS. This phenomenon has been documented in younger samples from families with low incomes (e.g., Schmitt et al., 2015), which is why we took into account recent recommendations to include the practice items in the total score (Fuhs et al., 2014;Gonzales et al., 2021). Despite these corrections, approximately 17% of the sample still demonstrated floor effects. ...
In the present study, we investigated the relative impact of age- versus schooling-related growth in school readiness skills using four modeling approaches that leverage natural variation in longitudinal data collected within the preschool year. Our goal was to demonstrate the applicability of different analytic techniques that do not rely on assumptions inherent in commonly applied methods (e.g., the school entrance cutoff method, regression discontinuity design) that selection into subsequent grades is based on birthdate alone and that the quality of experiences between grades are not responsible for differences in outcomes. Notably, these alternative methods also do not require data collected across multiple grades. Participants included 316 children (Mage = 54.77 months; 47.15% male) who mostly identified as White (64%) or Latinx (20%). A little over half of the sample attended Head Start preschools (54.75%). Four modeling techniques that leverage data collected at two timepoints in preschool were used to examine schooling effects on children's preliteracy, emergent math, and executive function (EF) skills. Results replicate evidence from previous research using traditional methods. Specifically, findings across all models demonstrate a schooling effect on preliteracy skills during the preschool year, above and beyond maturation, but not on emergent math or EF. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each analytical tool for researchers who are interested in answering questions about the effects of schooling with diverse data collection strategies, as well as broader implications for the integrity of educational and developmental science. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
... The games increase in complexity over time and focus on improving attention, working memory and inhibitory control. Several studies have trialled this intervention and found that it leads to more improvements in the targeted skills (ie., attention, working memory, and inhibitory control) and academic achievement when compared control conditions involving the early education curriculum as usual 10,11,12 . Keown, Franke & Triggs 13 conduced a randomized controlled trial of RLPL with similar results to those of the studies mentioned prior; but this study also measured changes in more general self-regulatory abilities within the classroom to indicate generalisability of skills. ...
Self-regulation is essential for successful human functioning across the lifespan. Difficulties in self-regulation early in life have been associated with a wide array of adverse outcomes including difficulties with school transition, educational attainment, and social functioning in childhood, as well as employment, mental health, physical health, relationships, and criminal activity in adulthood. ENGAGE (Enhancing Neurobehavioural Gains with the Aid of Games and Exercise) is a play-based intervention fostering the development of self-regulation in pre-schoolers and has led to improvements when used within the home setting. Given that most children attend some form of early childhood education setting, this is an ideal environment in which to teach self-regulation. The aim for this study was to ascertain whether ENGAGE can be implemented within an ECE group setting and whether this also leads to improved self-regulation. This trial has been registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR); trial number ACTRN12622000364774; trial web address: https://www.anzctr.org.au/ACTRN12622000364774.aspx. 668 children aged 3-5 years and their teachers, across 28 Early Childhood Education Centres (ECE) participated. Children’s self-regulation skills were assessed via scores on the Hyperactivity, Aggression, and Attention Problems subscales of BASC-2. Results indicted no significant changes in self-regulation skills across a 10-week waitlist period. Following 10 weeks of the ENGAGE programme, significant improvements in self-regulation were reported, and these were maintained at 2- and 6-month follow-up. These findings indicate that ENGAGE translates well into the ECE setting and has the potential to have population-based impacts on self-regulation abilities which could lead to more positive societal outcomes.
... More specifically, the general EFs or EFs in numerical contexts may consist of partially dissociable components in early childhood [36][37][38][39][40]. The numerical specific EFs or EFs in numerical contexts have a stronger link to children's math growth over and above the general EFs [40] because children's ability to attend to numerical and spatial magnitudes involving in mathematics achievement may differ from those of music activities or reading counting books [41]. ...
Background
The current evidence on an integrative role of the domain-specific early mathematical skills and number-specific executive functions (EFs) from informal to formal schooling and their effect on mathematical abilities is so far unclear. The main objectives of this study were to (i) compare the domain-specific early mathematics, the number-specific EFs, and the mathematical abilities between preschool and primary school children, and (ii) examine the relationship among the domain-specific early mathematics, the number-specific EFs, and the mathematical abilities among preschool and primary school children.
Methods
The current study recruited 6- and 7-year-old children ( N total = 505, n 6yrs = 238, and n 7yrs = 267). The domain-specific early mathematics as measured by symbolic and nonsymbolic tasks, number-specific EFs tasks, and mathematics tasks between these preschool and primary school children were compared. The relationship among domain-specific early mathematics, number-specific EFs, and mathematical abilities among preschool and primary school children was examined. MANOVA and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to test research hypotheses.
Results
The current results showed using MANOVA that primary school children were superior to preschool children over more complex tests of the domain-specific early mathematics; number-specific EFs; mathematical abilities, particularly for more sophisticated numerical knowledge; and number-specific EF components. The SEM revealed that both the domain-specific early numerical and the number-specific EFs significantly related to the mathematical abilities across age groups. Nevertheless, the number comparison test and mental number line of the domain-specific early mathematics significantly correlated with the mathematical abilities of formal school children. These results show the benefits of both the domain-specific early mathematics and the number-specific EFs in mathematical development, especially at the key stages of formal schooling. Understanding the relationship between EFs and early mathematics in improving mathematical achievements could allow a more powerful approach in improving mathematical education at this developmental stage.
... Therefore, our current results showed that regularly engaging cognitive control in pretend play training activities was insufficient to improve its efficiency. Other studies have reported training effects only in task conditions that required higher cognitive control resources and were the most challenging for children (Diamond et al., 2007;Schmitt, McClelland, Tominey, & Acock, 2015). For preschool children, resolving an interference at the task set level is more difficult than resolving an interference at the motor level, as evidenced by slower and less accurate responses (Adam et al., 2020;Davidson et al., 2006). ...
To what extent can cognitive control, self-regulation, and the underlying midfrontal theta oscillatory activity of preschool children be modified by an ecologically realistic training based on pretend play? To answer this question, 70 children aged 4–6 years (37 boys) were assigned to a training group or a control group using a pairing randomization procedure. Children were administered 20 play sessions over 10 weeks. Benefits were evaluated with a pre–post design. The intervention helped children to engage more in self-regulation within the training activities. However, the intervention did not promote self-regulation outside of the training context, nor did it influence cognitive control and theta activity. These results provide a better understanding of the limitations of an ecologically realistic approach to cognitive control training.
... Zhang, 2019). Previous studies have documented the association between early ATL and preschool achievement in language and mathematics Schmitt et al., 2015;Vitiello et al., 2011). On the one hand, young children with high ATL levels tend to have better selfregulation, thus demonstrate persistent engagement in tasks, eagerness to learn, sustained attentiveness, and refrain from being unoccupied and disruptive Bohlmann & Downer, 2016;Nesbitt et al., 2015). ...
Research Findings: The study examined the latent profiles of approaches to learning (ATL) in Chinese preschoolers and the association of profile membership with their academic school readiness. A total of 235 preschoolers (Mage = 58.07 months, SD = 10.09 months) were sampled and evaluated with the School Readiness Composite (SRC) of the Bracken Basic Concept Scale-Revised, and early achievement tests in language and literacy and mathematics excepted from the East Asia-Pacific Early Child Development Scales (EAP-ECDS). The children’s class teachers (Nteacher = 18) rated their ATL using a newly developed teacher-rating scale, and one of their parents (Nparent = 235) completed a survey questionnaire measuring family demographics. Results of latent profile analysis have yielded four latent profiles of ATL: the low group (27.66%), the positive group (20.85%), the middle of the road group (37.87%), and the social and persistent group (13.62%). The hierarchical regression analysis indicated that ATL profile membership was significantly related to academic school readiness, in terms of basic concept readiness and early language, literacy, and mathematics achievements. In addition, higher levels of ATL were associated with higher levels of academic school readiness. Policy and Practices: The findings highlighted the importance of ATL in young children, and positive ATL should be nurtured during the early years to promote their school readiness.
... In the "Red Light, Purple Light" program, preschool children practiced inhibition with physically active games during circle time. Greater gains were found in self-regulation and academic achievement over the preschool year for the intervention group (Schmitt et al., 2015), as well as significant gains in letter-word identification after an 8-week implementation period (Tominey and McClelland, 2011). ...
Despite the growing body of research indicating that integrated physical activity with learning benefits children both physically and cognitively, preschool curricula with integrated physical activities are scarce. The “Move for Thought (M4T) preK-K” program provides activities on fundamental motor skills that are integrated with academic concepts, executive function, and social-emotional skills in the preschool environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the M4T preK-K program over an eight-week period in 16 preschool centers (N = 259; Mage =4.22 SD = 0.61) that were randomly assigned to the intervention (8 M4T; n = 130; Mage =4.31 SD = 0.61) and the control (8 traditional; n = 130; Mage =4.13 SD = 0.60) groups. In both groups, teacher ratings of children’s attention, behavioral control, and social skills (i.e., cooperation, assertion, and self-control) in the classroom, as well as children’s perceived motor skill competence and executive functions, were collected before and after the intervention. A daily teacher log measured intervention fidelity and perceived experiences with the program. Results showed a significant improvement on attention scores for children in the M4T preK-K group, compared to the control group. No significant differences emerged for behavioral control, social skills, executive functions, and perceived motor competence among groups. A significant time effect was evident for executive functions, with both groups improving over time. Further, the program was well-received, easy to implement in the preschool classroom and with high rates of satisfaction for both children and teachers. The M4T preK-K program is promising in helping teachers prepare preschool children for future educational success.
... Fourth, future experimental research may explore if early self-regulation intervention has long-term impacts on students' longitudinal mathematics performance. The present finding adds to the self-regulation literature suggesting self-regulation intervention may not only promote short-term mathematics achievement (Schmitt et al., 2015). It may also predict long-term mathematics performance (McClelland et al., 2013) instead of specific academic skills whose impacts decline as the time lag increases. ...
In the present meta-analysis, we systematically investigated the relative contributions of students’ initial mathematics, reading, and cognitive skills on subsequent mathematics performance measured at least 3 months later. With One-Stage Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling (MASEM), we conducted analyses based on 580,437 students from 265 independent samples and 250 studies. Findings suggested fluency in both mathematics and reading, as well as working memory, yielded greater impacts on subsequent mathematics performance. Age emerged as a significant moderator in the model, such that the effects of comprehensive mathematics and working memory on subsequent mathematics increased with age, whereas attention and self-regulation’s impacts declined with age. Time lag between assessments also emerged as a significant moderator, such that the effects of word-problem solving and word recognition accuracy decreased as the time lag increased, whereas vocabulary, attention, and self-regulation’s effects increased as the time lag increased.
... EF benefits from intervention resulted only for children with low EF at pretest assessment. However, the same self-regulation intervention implemented in Head Start classrooms found greater gains in EF and academic achievement over the preschool year in the intervention group overall compared with controls (Schmitt et al., 2015). Similarly, Head Start Research-Based, Developmentally Informed (REDI), a preschool intervention targeting socialemotional learning, found overall EF benefits compared with controls; the long-term EF benefits were, however, sustained only for children with the lowest EF skills (Bierman et al., 2008;Sasser et al., 2017). ...
Early childhood teachers face competing instructional priorities to support specific academic skills and general skills that underlie learning, such as executive function (EF) skills that allow children to control their own thinking and behavior. As the evidence shows, EF skills predict later mathematics achievement, and early mathematics predicts later EF. These relations between mathematics and EF suggest high-quality mathematics teaching has a dual benefit: Teachers can promote children’s math and EF competencies by embedding support for EF in high-quality mathematics activities. Children benefit when guided to reflect on solutions and alternative strategies, and teachers benefit from guidance on how to support both math and EF. Finally, research on teachers developing both domains can inform educational policy.
... Understanding the role of engineering play for early cognition may be especially important for preschoolers with developmental disabilities (Pellicano, 2010), who often exhibit delays in working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and planning (McCormack & Atance, 2011;Pellicano et al., 2017). Early delays and disabilities, including delays in EF, can be ameliorated via early detection and effective intervention (Schmitt et al., 2015). However, despite evidence that semi-structured block play and other rule-based strategies improve EF in underserved populations (e.g., Schmitt et al., 2018), most cognitive assessments use standardized testing to measure performance relative to typically developing children (e.g., Bracken School Readiness Assessment; Panter & Bracken, 2009). ...
Background
Engineering play is an emerging framework for understanding young children's constructive block play as an engineering design process. Few studies have evaluated engineering thinking, language, or behavior in preschool-age children, especially quantitative evaluations that systematically document specific early engineering behavior. More research is needed to support diverse children's engineering education in ecologically valid classroom contexts and understand relations with the key cognitive domains that predict school readiness.
Purpose/Hypothesis
The present study investigated the associations of executive functioning and planning skills with preschoolers' engineering play behaviors with wooden unit blocks, tested the moderating role of disability status in these associations, and provided additional reliability and validity data on the Preschool Engineering Play Behaviors (P-EPB) measure.
Design/Method
Participants were 110 preschoolers (44% female; 25% children with disabilities) observed and coded during 15-min block play sessions with a peer partner. Children completed separate formal assessments of executive function and planning.
Results
A one-factor engineering play variable including six behavior categories (i.e., communicating goals, problem-solving, explaining how things are built/work, following patterns and prototypes, logical and mathematical words, and technical vocabulary) was significantly and positively associated with executive function and planning for children with disabilities.
Conclusions
Results provide new knowledge about early engineering measurement and implications for teaching and learning engineering across multiple academic disciplines and with children from diverse developmental backgrounds.
... Findings from this study suggest that prevention and intervention programs designed to increase children's academic readiness and the quality of relationships between students and teachers could improve children's self-regulation. Some interventions to improve children's self-regulation show promising results (e.g., Schmitt, McClelland, Tominey, & Acock, 2015;Skibbe et al., 2012). Our study also suggests that interventions consider a multidimensional approach by integrating how peers' temperament-related characteristics might also shape children's relationships with their teachers. ...
In this short-term longitudinal study, we tested if peers' temperament in the fall of second grade predicted target children's (N = 241) student–teacher conflict and closeness in the spring of second grade and whether target children's self-regulation moderated these associations. Based on regression analyses, peers' negative emotionality was negatively related to target children's student–teacher closeness; peers' self-regulation was positively associated with target children's student–teacher closeness. Based on tests of interactions, the inverse relation between peers' self-regulation and target children's student–teacher conflict was significant when target children had low and average, but not high, self-regulation. Similarly, peers' positive emotionality was negatively related to student–teacher conflict for children with low self-regulation. Children's self-regulation did not moderate associations between peers' temperament and student–teacher closeness. Findings highlight the potential role of children's self-regulation in some associations between peers' temperament and student–teacher conflict.
... Furthermore, children diagnosed with specific learning disorders in reading, mathematics, or both, demonstrate poorer performance on EF tasks than do their typically developing peers (Swanson et al., 2009;Swanson & Jerman, 2006). Although the exact mechanisms through which EF affects academics are yet unknown, the substantial associations consistently reported between these constructs have resulted in growing interest in EF as a potential target for school-based interventions aimed at improving academic outcomes (Blair & Raver, 2014;Jacob & Parkinson, 2015;Schmitt et al., 2015). Consequently, a better understanding of the dynamic relations between EF and academic achievement across development may provide important opportunities for effective identification of children at risk for later academic difficulties as well as for the development of best-practice interventions and instructional strategies to best support children's learning. ...
The primary goal of this study was to examine developmental patterns among the relations between components of executive function (EF; working memory [WM], inhibitory control, shifting), and academic outcomes (reading, mathematics, language) in elementary school-age children. These relations were examined within the context of the development of EF and of academic skills utilizing an extension of the unity and diversity, intrinsic cognitive load, and dual process theories. Using meta-analytic methods, we summarized results from 299 studies from 293 articles/dissertations, representing 65,605 elementary school-age children (42-191 months old [M = 101 months, SD = 24.49 months]). Results indicated that accounting for general EF (by including the correlations among EF tasks in meta-analytic path models and accounting for effects between all three EF components and academic outcomes simultaneously) produced weaker relations between EF and academic skills than the bivariate relations which have been reported in prior meta-analytic reviews. However, although reduced, all relations between EF and academic outcomes remained significant throughout elementary school. Whereas WM was consistently moderately associated with reading, math, and oral language across development, the developmental trends for the relations between inhibitory control and shifting with academic outcomes varied based upon the academic skill examined. On the academic side, whereas the relations between reading and language skills with EF components varied throughout elementary school, few developmental changes were found in the relations between EF components and math skills across elementary school. Future directions and implications of findings for the conceptualization of the impact of EF on academics are discussed within the context of relevant theoretical models. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
... Prominent examples include: the Kochanska battery of seven to 13 tasks (number of tasks depends on age of the child; Kochanska et al., 1996), conceptualized as tapping effortful control (a temperament construct related to self-regulation that includes executive attention, inhibitory control, and planning; Rothbart et al., 2011); and the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) task used in the current study, in which children must perform the opposite action to what they are asked to do . Task-based approaches to selfregulation assessment show strong developmental (Montroy et al., 2016a) and intervention-related sensitivity (Schmitt et al., 2015), as well as similar predictive validity to adult-report measures (although data are often less-longitudinal given resource demands of using direct assessments within large-scale longitudinal studies) Ponitz et al., 2009). Challenges include questions of what exactly is being measured by these tasks. ...
Background
Over the past few decades early self-regulation has been identified as foundational to positive learning and wellbeing trajectories. As a consequence, a wide range of approaches have been developed to capture children’s developmental progress in self-regulation. Little is known, however, about whether and which of these are reliable indicators of future ability and risk for young children.Objective
This study examined measures from prominent approaches to self-regulation assessment (i.e., task-based, observation, adult-report) to determine: their structure; how these predict future academic school readiness in 3–5-year-old children, individually and if combined; and whether thresholds could be ascertained to reliably discriminate those children at risk of poor academic outcomes.Methods
Longitudinal analyses were conducted on start-of-year self-regulation data from 217 children in the final year of pre-school, using three prominent approaches to self-regulation assessment, and their end-of-year school readiness data. Data were subjected to path analysis, structural equation modelling and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses.ResultsStart-of-year cognitive self-regulation indices—but not behavioral or emotional self-regulation indices—from each approach reliably predicted school readiness 7 months later, just prior to commencing school. Only when combined into a composite score was a threshold with sufficient sensitivity and specificity for predicting school readiness risk established; yet this provided better prediction of true-negative than true-positive cases.Conclusions
Taken together, these results suggest the importance of cognitive self-regulation in particular for school readiness, as measured here, although self-regulation is just one of the contributing factors to school readiness risk.
... Although we do not have data about compliance, these findings suggest that more effective interventions are needed for children with behaviour concerns at school entry. This may require programmes of greater intensity, 28 increased focus on self-regulation and executive function, 29 and stronger collaboration between parents and early childhood educators. 30 For example, data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children has highlighted the importance of brief daily educational activities focusing on language for improving educational success. ...
Aim
To determine whether a multi-domain school readiness screening, the Before School Check (B4SC), identifies children at risk of low educational achievement and to compare the educational outcomes between those referred for intervention and those with B4SC concerns who were not referred.
Methods
In this longitudinal cohort study of children born at risk of neonatal hypoglycaemia (N 331), the B4SC was performed at 4.5 years of age and a standardised curriculum-based measure of educational achievement was completed at 9–10 years of age. Outcomes of school readiness screening were categorised into ‘school readiness concern’ or ‘no school readiness concern’ while ‘below standard’ and ‘well below standard’ ratings of educational achievement were combined into a single category of ‘low educational achievement’.
Results
Overall, 52% of children had ≥1 school readiness concerns at the B4SC, predominantly about behaviour (46%). Having ≥1 school readiness concern was associated with a nearly twofold increase in the likelihood of low academic achievement (OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.14, 3.02), which was apparent only for behaviour concerns. Of the 128 children with behaviour concerns, only 10 (8%) were referred for further interventions. There was a statistically non-significant increase in the rates of low academic achievement among those referred than those non-referred (60% vs. 47%).
Conclusion
Identification of behaviour concerns during B4SC is associated with a moderate increase in the likelihood of low academic achievement at 9–10 years. Further, research is needed to determine how academic achievement can be improved in children with behaviour concerns at school entry.
... For example, The Good Behavior Game (Ialongo et al. 1999(Ialongo et al. , 2001 class-wide program for elementary school children has been found to improve inhibitory control for children with the most difficulties in this area (Gilliom & Shaw, 2004). Prevention efforts prior to school entry also are promising, as programs more directly targeting self-regulation have improved early academic readiness outcomes with at-risk (Head Start) or high-risk (foster care) populations (Pears et al. 2013;Schmitt et al. 2015) and decreased risk for problem behavior (Pears et al. 2012). Again, although only direct rather than moderational associations were found, it is likely that programs focused on prevention of delinquency and deviant peer association in adolescence, including secondary prevention, are likely to have similar beneficial effects. ...
Purpose:
To examine moderation of intergenerational transmission of crime and antisocial behavior of parents to adult arrests of sons (from age 18 years to ages 37-38 years). Moderators examined were from late childhood (constructive parenting and sons' inhibitory control, internalizing symptoms, and cognitive function), adolescence (delinquency and deviant peer association), and early adulthood (educational achievement, employment history, substance use, deviant peer association, and partner antisocial behavior).
Methods:
Study participants were parents and sons (N = 206) from the longitudinal Oregon Youth Study, recruited from schools in the higher crime areas of a medium-sized metropolitan region in the Pacific Northwest. Assessment included official arrest records, school data, interviews, and questionnaires.
Results:
As hypothesized, parents' and sons' histories of two or more arrests were significantly associated. Predictions of sons' arrests from a broader construct of parental antisocial behavior were significantly moderated by sons' late childhood cognitive function and early adult employment history, substance use, and romantic partner's antisocial behavior. Overall, there was relatively little intergenerational association in crime at low levels of these moderators.
Conclusions:
Findings indicate relatively large intergenerational associations in crime. The identified moderators may be used as selection criteria or targeted in prevention and treatment efforts aimed at reducing such associations.
... Çocuklukta sağlıklı bir benlik düzenleme edinmenin erken yaşlardan itibaren sosyal ve akademik birçok olumlu özelliği öngördüğü ve bu anlamda sağlıklı bir gelişim sürecinin habercisi olduğu bilinmektedir (McClelland ve Cameron, 2011). Benlik düzenleme, erken dönemdeki okula hazır bulunuşluk (Adagideli, 2018;Bayındır ve Biber, 2019;Schmitt, McClelland, Tominey ve Acock, 2015;Tekin, 2018;Ursache, Blair ve Raver, 2012;Willis ve Dinehart, 2014) ve uzun vadede çocuğun akademik başarısında etkili olmaktadır (Gestsdottir ve ark., 2014;McClelland ve Wanless, 2012;Sop, 2016). Yüksek benlik düzenleme becerisi olan çocukların akademik benlik saygısı (Mercan, 2019), okula uyum becerileri (Şepitci-Sarıbaş ve Gültekin-Akduman, 2019) ve akademik öz-yeterlilikleri (Aldan-Karademir, Deveci ve Çaylı, 2018) de yüksektir. ...
Etkili benlik düzenleme; okul başarısı, kaliteli sosyal ilişkiler, psikolojik ve fiziksel sağlık gibi yaşamın birçok alanındaki olumlu sonuçlar açısından oldukça önemlidir. Bununla birlikte benlik düzenleme kapasitesi sınırsız değildir. Art arda gelen öz denetim etkinlikleri benlik düzenleme başarısızlıklarına yol açabilir. Sınırlı güç modeline göre benlik düzenleme etkinlikleri sınırlı bir kaynaktan beslenir ve bu kaynak geçici olarak tükenebilir. Kurama göre ego tükenmesi olarak adlandırılan bu durum öz denetim başarısızlıklarının nedenidir. Bu derleme çalışmasında benlik düzenleme ve sınırlı kaynak modeli gelişimsel açıdan ele alınmıştır. Benlik düzenlemenin gelişimi, çocuklardaki benlik düzenleme başarısızlıkları ve öz denetim becerisinin geliştirilmesi üzerine yazın gözden geçirilmiştir. Ayrıca sınırlı güç modeline ilişkin tartışmalara değinilmiş ve gelecekteki çalışmalar için bir bakış açısı sunulmuştur.
... The aforementioned programs require great time and expense, partly because they either focus on a range of social and emotional skills and/or academic skills (Schmitt et al., 2015). In lessons more specifically focused on integrating attention, working memory, and inhibitory control, used variations of popular children's games during circle time. ...
The “first-grade problem” of the lack of concentration, listening, and following of instruction has been widely identified among Japanese kindergarten students. To promote their executive functioning and self-regulation to prevent this issue, we developed the Social Thinking and Academic Readiness Training (START) program. The experimental group in which the program was implemented contained 79 children (average age = 73.22 months), and the standard practices group contained 70 children (average age = 72.91 months). Before and after the intervention, the children underwent tasks to test their behavioral self-regulation and executive function (working memory). For behavioral self-regulation, a significant interaction occurred between condition (experimental and standard practices) and time (pre- and post-test), suggesting that these 6 START lessons promoted self-regulation. However, no effects were found on either auditory or visual memory. Teacher reports in surveys were consistent with the executive functioning outcomes, reporting improvement in children’s concentration, listening, and self-regulation skills.
This study investigates preschool teachers' experiences and perceptions of a professional development (PD) program on children's self-regulation. This PD opportunity was planned around two aims: to increase preschool teachers' awareness of children's self-regulation skills and support participants' understanding and skills to implement the Red Light, Purple Light (RLPL) Self-Regulation Intervention Program in their classrooms. The phenomenological research design is used to examine participant teachers' experiences in the PD program. The participants consist of 23 volunteered public preschool teachers. Data sources were semi-structured interviews and reflective writings. According to the results of the content analysis, the participating teachers thought that the PD program positively affected their personal and professional development. Participating in the PD program broadened their understanding of the conceptual basis of self-regulation in children. In addition, the participants expressed their perceptions about embedding ways of fostering self-regulation in the National Preschool Education Program practices and the structural features of the RLPL Self-Regulation Intervention Program.
Social-emotional competencies are important for school-readiness and can be supported through social-emotional learning (SEL) interventions in the preschool years. However, past research has demonstrated mixed efficacy of early SEL interventions across varied samples, highlighting a need to unpack the black box of which early interventions work, under what conditions, and for whom. In the present article we discuss the critical implementation component of active child engagement in an intervention as a potential point of disconnect between the intervention as designed and as implemented. Children who are physically present but unengaged during an intervention may lead to decreased average impacts of an intervention. Furthermore, measuring young children’s active engagement with an intervention may help to guide iterative intervention development. We propose a four-step protocol for capturing the multi-dimensional and varied construct of active child engagement in a SEL intervention. To illustrate the utility of the protocol, we apply it to data from a pilot study of a researcher-implemented, semi-structured block play intervention focused on supporting the development of SEL and math skills in preschoolers. We then present future directions for the integration of active participant engagement into the measurement of implementation of SEL interventions for young children.
Efficient and intuitive interpretive frameworks for social-emotional learning (SEL) measures are necessary for identifying student needs and informing programming decisions across multitiered systems of support in schools. Though familiar to educators and often used with standardized tests of academic achievement, criterion-referenced frameworks are less common in SEL assessment. As such, the current study examined the psychometric evidence for scores from one such framework, the Competency-Referenced Performance Framework, which was developed to inform universal screening decisions based on the SSIS SEL Brief Scales (Elliott et al., 2020). Specifically, we evaluated stability, test-criterion relationships with academic outcomes, and treatment sensitivity of the CRPF using data from an efficacy trial of a universal SEL program. Results provided preliminary supportive evidence for the CRPF.
The benefits of active music participation and training for cognitive development has been evidenced in multiple studies, with this link leveraged in music therapy approaches with clinical populations. Although music, rhythm, and movement activities are widely integrated into children's play and early education, few studies have systematically translated music therapy-based approaches to a non-clinical population to support early cognitive development. This study reports the follow-up effects of the RAMSR program delivered by preschool teachers in low socioeconomic communities. This randomized control trial involved 213 children across eight preschools in disadvantaged communities in Queensland, Australia. The intervention group received 16 to 20 sessions of RAMSR over eight weeks, while the control group undertook usual preschool programs. Primary outcome measures included executive function (child assessment of shifting, working memory, and inhibition) and self-regulation (teacher report), with secondary outcomes of school readiness and visual motor integration. Data was collected pre and post intervention, and again six months later once children had transitioned into school. Results demonstrated significant intervention effects across the three time points for school readiness (p = .038, ηp 2 = .09), self-regulation (p <.001, ηp 2 = .08) and inhibition (p = .002 ηp 2 = .23). Additionally, the feasibility of building capacity in teachers without any music background to successfully deliver the program was evidenced. These findings are important given that children from low socioeconomic backgrounds are both more likely to need support for cognitive development yet have inequitable access to quality music and movement programs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Teachers’ scaffolding behaviors support children’s self-regulation skills in the classroom. However, little evidence is available regarding the presence of self-regulation scaffolding behaviors in preschool teachers, and how they vary throughout the year and in different learning experiences. Less is known about these behaviors in Latin American preschool contexts. The main goal of this study was to develop a coding system to examine and compare preschool teachers’ self-regulation scaffolding behaviors at the beginning and end of the school year in two learning experiences (i.e. greeting time and math instruction). Participants were 18 Chilean preschool teachers (Mage = 37.17 years; SD = 8.83). Seventy video segments were coded based on teacher behaviors targeting children’s self-regulation. The coding system included three scales: Instructional Strategy, Management Organization, and Warmth Responsivity. Research Findings: Findings revealed a greater presence of teachers’ self-regulation scaffolding behaviors in the Instructional Strategy scale than in the Management Organization and Warmth Responsivity scales. Also, the presence of teachers’ self-regulation scaffolding behaviors in the Instructional Strategy and Warmth Responsivity scales was related to the type of learning experience. Practice or Policy: The description of self-regulation scaffolding behaviors in Chilean preschool teachers contributes to understanding the role of teachers in the preschool context.
The need for strengths-based perspectives on how children develop social–emotional learning (SEL) is especially pronounced in the context of research conducted with communities challenged by few resources and a history of oppression. This study included 313 underserved, primarily Black children who were assessed with several SEL building block measures at kindergarten entry. Specifically, we asked which SEL building blocks contributed to longitudinal teacher ratings of overall SEL on the Devereux Strengths and Skills Assessment (DESSA), collected four times during kindergarten and first grade. In separate models accounting for classroom membership, multiple kindergarten-entry SEL building blocks, including theory of mind, emotion, and situational knowledge, explained variance in teacher perceptions of children’s overall SEL at various time points after controlling for working memory and expressive vocabulary. In a single model that included all kindergarten-entry SEL building blocks, behavioral self-regulation most consistently predicted teachers’ overall SEL ratings over time. Even so, other SEL building blocks including theory of mind and emotion and situational knowledge should not be discounted because they also predicted variance in teacher-rated SEL at individual time points. A major implication of this study points to the importance of directly assessing building blocks of SEL at kindergarten entry, especially behavioral self-regulation, to effectively support children from underserved communities.
Neighborhood characteristics are well documented determinants of adolescent and adult health and well-being. One such neighborhood characteristic heavily explored in K-12 research is the role of residential segregation on educational outcomes. Surprisingly, little is known about how community conditions, as well as racial segregation, relate to children’s early school readiness. This is a critical gap in the field as children’s school readiness is a significant marker of school success, both in the short and long term. Thus, this study aimed to address this gap through examining statewide school readiness data and neighborhood opportunity resources related to early childhood development. Student-level readiness data from 84,720 kindergarteners collected through the 2019 Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Program were used to determine whether a student demonstrated school readiness skills. Community conditions surrounding a school were constructed using geospatial mapping of the 2015 School Attendance Boundary (SAB) Survey and Child Opportunity Index 2.0. This study then explored the role of neighborhood segregation in a SAB with student’s school readiness with three separate approaches (entropy, exposure, and share of racial/ethnic groups). A series of logit regression models were used to examine the relationship between community resources and the likelihood a student was school-ready and whether this relationship varied across low and highly segregated SABs. Results indicated that a student in a higher resourced community was more likely to be school ready than a similar student in a lower resourced community. Distribution of students by race/ethnicity across neighborhood resource levels was uneven. Specifically, Black and Hispanic children are overrepresented in lower resourced communities, and White and Asian children overrepresented in higher resourced ones. Further, in two out of three measures of segregation, results show significant variation between neighborhood resources and school readiness likelihood across different levels of segregation. Consistently, students within a more segregated (and particularly Segregated Black or Hispanic) SAB were more sensitive to changes in community resources than those in less segregated SAB. Program and policy implications are discussed.
We examined the additive associations of two motivational beliefs (growth mindset and academic self-efficacy) and self-regulation with mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) scores, as well as the interplay of students' beliefs and self-regulation skills, controlling for previous test scores. We tested whether these pathways differed across three mutually exclusive levels of economic risk: (1) low-risk students; (2) students receiving free and reduced price meals (FRPM); and (3) students identified as homeless and highly-mobile (HHM). Our results showed that motivational beliefs and self-regulation skills interact to promote academic achievement. Greater levels of growth mindset were related to higher academic achievement only for HHM students with higher levels of self-regulation.
Pre-kindergarten (pre-k) is thought to have both direct and indirect effects on children's outcomes in early elementary school. Direct pre-k effectsconsistently include moderate to large gains in academic skills and sometimes include increases in problem behaviors that affect acquisition of skills in school. Indirect pre-k effects assume that having more pre-k attenders in classrooms motivates teachers to provide more challenging instruction and provide children with more academically skilled, but perhaps behaviorally challenged peers with whom they interact. To date, these indirect effects have not been carefully examined. This study used a district-wide cohort study of a pre-k program (n = 2572 children, 482 kindergarten classrooms) to examine whether the proportion of children in kindergarten classrooms with pre-k experience related to gains in children's academic, executive function, and social skills during kindergarten. Results indicated that schools with more pre-k attenders served more children from low-income families and children of color. The quality of instruction in classrooms with more pre-k attenders was rated as slightly higher in terms of instructional support and focus on abstract learning when school composition was not considered. Teachers reported less focus on teachers-parent coordination of home learning in classrooms with more pre-k attenders. Children with more classmates who attended pre-k, regardless of their own pre-k attendance histories, showed slightly larger gains in vocabulary and inhibitory control skills but also showed smaller increases in ability to manage frustration. When taken together, findings may indicate that peers influence young children's verbal and social skills, but do not support speculation that increasing pre-k exposure would improve reading or math skills overall or lead to more externalizing behavior problems.
Le présent article a pour but d’étudier le rôle prédictif de la qualité des interactions enseignante-enfants sur le développement du raisonnement spatial chez des enfants de la maternelle quatre ans à temps plein en milieu défavorisé. L’échantillon apparié est composé, d’une part, de 232 enfants (130 filles, 102 garçons) âgés de 58,29 mois (ÉT = 4.93) et de 8 enseignantes titulaires d’un baccalauréat en enseignement, ayant en moyenne 12,2 ans d’expérience en enseignement à l’éducation préscolaire (ÉT = 5.45). Des analyses de régressions multiples à effet mixte montrent que les dimensions et sous-dimensions de la qualité des interactions enseignante-enfants prédisent significativement et positivement les sous-tests du raisonnement spatial. Cette étude soulève l’importance d’améliorer la qualité des interactions enseignante-enfants afin de favoriser le développement du raisonnement spatial des enfants de la maternelle quatre ans.
Developing self-disciplined students is one of the most important objectives in all education systems and can form the basis for sustainable development in any society. The aim of this study was to explain how self-regulatory students train in primary schools, with particular emphasis on the role of teachers and the application of a qualitative approach and Grounded Theory method. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 25 primary teachers and writing letters. The interviewers were selected based on a theoretical sampling strategy. Data analysis was carried out in three stages of open, axial and selective coding, which resulted in 48 basic codes, 19 subcategories and 3 general categories being distinguished. In the model obtained, "attention to comprehensive human growth" is considered to be the main category, which is related to all categories obtained in this study. If teachers, as educators of the educational process, pay attention to comprehensive human growth and make best use of contextual conditions such as original content and modern educational media to implement strategies such as agency, orientation and feedback to students, creating a platform for them and inspiring them, provide the ground for cultivating capable and self- regulation students who are promising for the future that they will become their community. In the following, appropriate strategies for nurturing self-regulated students were presented.
There is strong evidence linking children’s self-regulation with their academic and behavioral outcomes. These relations have led to the development of interventions aimed at improving academic outcomes by promoting self-regulation, based in part on the idea that self-regulation promotes the development of academic skills. Although a considerable number of studies have examined the degree to which interventions designed to improve aspects of self-regulation have a positive impact on academic outcomes, only a few studies have examined the degree to which children’s self-regulation moderates the effects of academic interventions. The goal of this study was to examine whether self-regulation, indexed by a direct assessment of executive function and teacher-rated attention, moderated the uptake of early literacy interventions for 184 children (average age = 58 months, SD = 3.38; 66% Black/African American, 28% White; 59% male) at risk for reading difficulties who participated in a randomized controlled trial examining the efficacy of Tier 2 interventions in preschool. Multilevel models were used to examine the degree to which children’s self-regulation moderated the impacts of the interventions. The results of this study provided little evidence that self-regulation moderated the impacts of the interventions and call into question the likelihood of a causal relation between self-regulation and academic achievement.
This study examined the role of selfregulation in the path from family factors to preschool readiness in China. Altogether 661 preschool children (M = 43.30 months, SD = 3.6) were sampled from 5 preschools in a coastal city of Southern China. Their parents reported on the family routines, parenting styles, and the child's selfregulation. And their teachers rated each child's preschool readiness. The structural equation modeling results suggested that: (1) selfregulation could significantly predict children's preschool readiness, including abilities to follow classroom rules, learning dispositions, and social competence; (2) selfregulation mediated the path from family routines to children's preschool readiness; (3) selfregulation also mediated the relationships between authoritative parenting and children's preschool readiness; (4) authoritarian parenting directly influenced children's social competence; and (5) family SES only correlated with young children's selfcare and emotional maturity. These findings underscore the importance of considering the joint influences of children's selfregulation, family routines, parenting styles, and family SES in shaping children's readiness for preschool.
Executive function (EF) has a critical role in school success, both academic and social-emotional. Nevertheless, there is a lack of evidence on developmentally sensitive measures of EF for young children and on the feasibility of assessing EF for early childhood screening. This study assessed the screening potential of EF tasks, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Toolbox measures of EF, Flanker and Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) with developmental extensions (Dext versions). EF measures were added to routine screening of children 3-6 years old in a large urban school district, providing promising data on the validity of the EF measures and their added value beyond traditional screening measures utilized by this district. EF uniquely predicted growth in learning across the kindergarten year. Results also provided evidence that Dext versions of the NIH Toolbox EF measures effectively lower the floor of the Flanker and DCCS tasks, which is essential for their utility in early childhood screening. Findings indicate that EF measures capture a wide range of variability, can be administered during routine screening, show construct validity, and provide unique predictive value for school outcomes.
Introduction
Self-regulation is a modifiable protective factor for lifespan mental and physical health outcomes. Early caregiver-mediated interventions to promote infant and child regulatory outcomes prevent long-term developmental, emotional and behavioural difficulties and improve outcomes such as school readiness, educational achievement and economic success. To harness the population health promise of these programmes, there is a need for more nuanced understanding of the impact of these interventions. The aim of this realist review is to understand how, why, under which circumstances and for whom, early caregiver-mediated interventions improve infant and child self-regulation. The research questions guiding this review were based on consultation with families and community organisations that provide early childhood and family services.
Methods and analysis
Realist reviews take a theory-driven and iterative approach to evidence synthesis, structured around continuous refinement of a programme theory. Programme theories specify context-mechanism-outcome configurations to explain what works, for whom, under which circumstances and how. Our initial programme theory is based on prior work in this field and will be refined through the review process. A working group, comprising service users, community organisation representatives, representatives from specific populations, clinicians and review team members will guide the evidence synthesis and interpretation, as well as the development and dissemination of recommendations based on the findings of the review. The review will involve searching: (i) electronic databases, (ii) connected papers, articles and citations and (iii) grey literature. Decisions to include evidence will be guided by judgements about their contribution to the programme theory and will be made by the research team, with input from the working group. Evidence synthesis will be reported using the Realist and MEta-narrative Evidence Synthesis: Evolving Standards guidelines.
Ethics and dissemination
Ethical approval is not required as this is a review. Findings will be disseminated to our working group and through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.
Review registration number
The protocol is registered with Open Science Framework https://osf.io/5ce2z/registrations .
This study examined direct and moderated connections among aerobic fitness, objectively measured sedentary to light physical activity (SLPA), moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and executive function (EF) during pre-kindergarten. Children (n = 81) between the ages of 3 and 5 were recruited from 17 classrooms from 7 center-based pre-kindergartens. In the fall (T1) and spring (T2), children were assessed using the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) and Day-Night Stroop, and physical activity (PA) was measured at T1 over 4 days during waking hours within each pre-kindergarten. At T1, aerobic fitness significantly moderated the connection between MVPA and the Day-Night Stroop. For children with low aerobic fitness, time in MVPA predicted higher Day-Night scores, with MVPA unrelated to Day-Night scores for children with high aerobic fitness. Results also showed a similar trend level interaction for the HTKS at T1 between aerobic fitness and MVPA. Between T1 and T2, aerobic fitness also significantly moderated the connection between SLPA with change in HTKS scores. For children with high aerobic fitness, time in SLPA predicted positive change in HTKS scores, with SLPA unrelated to change in HTKS scores for children with low aerobic fitness. Findings are discussed in the context of considering not only how PA and aerobic fitness relate to early cognitive development, but also how sedentary to light activity and aerobic fitness could promote and develop EF.
This study examined children's self-regulation, demographic risks (English Language Learner (ELL) status, being from a low-income family), and academic achievement longitudinally across four time points (fall and spring of the prekindergarten and kindergarten years). Findings suggested that assets such as high self-regulation in the fall of prekindergarten were significantly related to children's academic achievement in prekindergarten and during the transition to kindergarten. The effect of self-regulation on achievement did not vary as a function of risk. Higher self-regulation significantly predicted higher academic skills regardless of risks. Discussion highlights the importance of assets, such as strong self-regulation, for early academic achievement.
Children's behavioral self-regulation and executive function (EF; including attentional or cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control) are strong predictors of academic achievement. The present study examined the psychometric properties of a measure of behavioral self-regulation called the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) by assessing construct validity, including relations to EF measures, and predictive validity to academic achievement growth between prekindergarten and kindergarten. In the fall and spring of prekindergarten and kindergarten, 208 children (51% enrolled in Head Start) were assessed on the HTKS, measures of cognitive flexibility, working memory (WM), and inhibitory control, and measures of emergent literacy, mathematics, and vocabulary. For construct validity, the HTKS was significantly related to cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control in prekindergarten and kindergarten. For predictive validity in prekindergarten, a random effects model indicated that the HTKS significantly predicted growth in mathematics, whereas a cognitive flexibility task significantly predicted growth in mathematics and vocabulary. In kindergarten, the HTKS was the only measure to significantly predict growth in all academic outcomes. An alternative conservative analytical approach, a fixed effects analysis (FEA) model, also indicated that growth in both the HTKS and measures of EF significantly predicted growth in mathematics over four time points between prekindergarten and kindergarten. Results demonstrate that the HTKS involves cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control, and is substantively implicated in early achievement, with the strongest relations found for growth in achievement during kindergarten and associations with emergent mathematics.
Children’s experiences with early numeracy and literacy activities are a likely source of individual differences in their preparation for academic learning in school. What factors predict differences in children’s experiences? We hypothesised that relations between parents’ practices and children’s numeracy skills would mediate the relations between numeracy skills and parents’ education, attitudes and expectations. Parents of Greek (N = 100) and Canadian (N = 104) five‐year‐old children completed a survey about parents’ home practices, academic expectations and attitudes; their children were tested on two numeracy measures (i.e., KeyMath‐Revised Numeration and next number generation). Greek parents reported numeracy and literacy activities less frequently than Canadian parents; however, the frequency of home numeracy activities that involved direct experiences with numbers or mathematical content (e.g., learning simple sums, mental math) was related to children’s numeracy skills in both countries. For Greek children, home literacy experiences (i.e., storybook exposure) also predicted numeracy outcomes. The mediation model was supported for Greek children, but for Canadian children, the parent factors had both direct and mediated relations with home practices.
As an example of how the effectiveness of well-designed laboratory interventions is often diffused in the field, we examined the effects of a motivation intervention on students' perceptions and learning. The intervention proved to be more effective in the laboratory (g = 0.45) than the field (g = 0.05) in enhancing subsequent motivation. We explored this reduction in treatment effectiveness through a fidelity analysis that examined the extent to which participants responded to the treatment. We calculated fidelity as three indices of achieved relative treatment strength (Cordray & Pion, 20064.
Cordray , D. S. . The cause … or the ‘what’ of what works?. Paper presented at the Institute for Education Sciences 2006 Research Conference. Washington, DC. June, View all references), and found that, regardless of how fidelity was calculated, achieved relative strength was about 1 standard deviation less in the classroom than the laboratory. In addition, greater levels of achieved relative strength were associated with greater differences in the motivational outcome—indicating that intervention was more effective for participants who actually received the treatment than those who did not. Multilevel analyses indicated that the drop in classroom treatment fidelity was partially because of teacher, rather than student, factors. Implications for theoretical models of change and research are discussed.
One hundred ninety-two children in foster care participated in a randomized efficacy trial of a school readiness intervention, the Kids In Transition to School (KITS) Program, designed to increase literacy, social, and self-regulation skills in children before kindergarten entry. One hundred two children were randomly assigned to the KITS intervention and 90 were randomly assigned to the foster care services as usual comparison group. At the end of the kindergarten year, teachers were asked to report on the children's oppositional and aggressive behaviors in the classroom. Controlling for gender, baseline levels of parent-reported oppositional and aggressive behaviors, and level of disruptiveness in the classroom, children who had received the intervention had significantly lower levels of oppositional and aggressive behaviors in the classroom. Findings suggest that an intervention designed to increase school readiness in children in foster care can have positive effects on kindergarten classroom behavior.
Research Findings: The present study examined the role of demographic risk factors in the development of children's behavioral regulation. We investigated whether being from a low-income family and being an English language learner (ELL) predicted behavioral regulation between prekindergarten and kindergarten. Results indicated that children from low-income families began prekindergarten with significantly lower behavioral regulation than their more economically advantaged peers. Furthermore, English-speaking children from low-income families exhibited a faster rate of behavioral regulation growth than low-income ELLs. English-speaking children from low-income families narrowed the gap with their more economically advantaged English-speaking peers by the end of kindergarten, but ELLs from low-income families did not. Practice or Policy: Discussion focuses on the importance of understanding the effects of being an ELL and being from a low-income family for the demands of formal schooling.
Research Findings: Behavioral regulation (the integration of attention, working memory, and inhibitory control) is critical for school readiness and early academic achievement. In Taiwan, however, where academic success is highly valued, there is a dearth of assessments available to measure young children's behavioral regulation. The present study examined the validity of a direct measure of behavioral regulation, the Head-to-Toes Task (HTT), in Taiwanese 3.5- to 4.5-year-olds. The goals were to (a) investigate the nature and variability of HTT scores and (b) explore relations between HTT scores and early math and vocabulary skills and teacher-rated classroom behavioral regulation in the spring of the preschool year. Results indicated that the HTT captured substantial variability and was significantly related to early math and vocabulary skills after controlling for age, mother's education level, and teacher-rated classroom behavioral regulation but was not significantly related to teacher ratings of classroom behavioral regulation. Practice or Policy: These findings suggest that the HTT may be a useful measure of behavioral regulation for Taiwanese preschoolers and provide evidence for the importance of behavioral regulation for academic achievement in Taiwan. Practical implications focus on supporting the development of behavioral regulation in early childhood settings, which can promote early school success.
Research Findings: The present study examined the efficacy of a self-regulation intervention with 65 preschool children. Using circle time games, the study examined whether participating in a treatment group significantly improved behavioral self-regulation and early academic outcomes. Half of the children were randomly assigned to participate in 16 playgroups during the winter of the school year. Behavioral aspects of self-regulation and early achievement were assessed in the fall and spring. Although there was no treatment effect in the overall sample, post hoc analyses revealed that participation in the treatment group was significantly related to self-regulation gains in children who started the year with low levels of these skills. Children in the treatment group also demonstrated significant letter-word identification gains compared to children in the control group. Practice or Policy: The findings from this study provide preliminary evidence for the efficacy of the intervention in terms of improving preschoolers’ behavioral self-regulation for children low in these skills and improving letter-word identification. Although preliminary, these results have the potential to inform preschool curricula that emphasize behavioral self-regulation as a means of facilitating school readiness.
This study examined gender differences in self-regulation in the fall and spring of kindergarten and their connection to gender differences in 5 areas of early achievement: applied problems (math), general knowledge, letter–word identification, expressive vocabulary, and sound awareness. Behavioral self-regulation was measured using both an objective direct measure (N = 268; Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task) and, for a subsample of children, a teacher report of classroom self-regulatory behavior (n = 156; Child Behavior Rating Scale). Results showed that girls outperformed boys in both assessments. Although gender differences in self-regulation were clear, no significant gender differences were found on the 5 academic achievement outcomes, as measured by the Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Self-regulation consistently predicted math and sound awareness, although links were stronger with the direct measure as compared with teacher reports. Implications for understanding the role of gender and self-regulation in early and later academic achievement and the role of self-regulation in particular areas of achievement are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Attempted to examine the generalizability of environment/development relationships among 3 ethnic groups across the first 3 years of life. Social status did not show a consistent relationship to either quality of home environment or children's developmental status across the various groups. Results indicated a fairly consistent relationship between HOME scores and children's developmental status, although there were some ethnic and social status differences in the relationship. Measures of specific aspects of the child's home environment, such as parental responsivity and availability of stimulating play materials, were more strongly related to child developmental status than global measures of environmental quality such as SES. When the child's developmental status
and early home environment were both very low, the likelihood of poor developmental outcomes was markedly increased compared with cases when only one was low. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Abstract— Children’s ability to direct their attention and behavior to learning tasks provides a foundation for healthy social and academic development in early schooling. Although an explosion of research on this topic has occurred in recent years, the field has been hindered by a lack of conceptual clarity, as well as debate over underlying components and their significance in predicting school success. In addition, few measures tap these skills as children move into formal schooling. This article describes the aspects of self-regulation that are most important for early school success. It then discusses methodological challenges in reliably and validly assessing these skills in young children and describes recent advances in direct measures of self-regulation that are reliable and ecologically valid and that predict children’s school success. It concludes by summarizing critical issues in the study of self-regulation in school contexts and discussing next steps.
This article describes the developmental patterns of Hispanic-White math and reading achievement gaps in elementary school, paying attention to variation in these patterns among Hispanic subgroups. Compared to non-Hispanic White students, Hispanic students enter kindergarten with much lower average math and reading skills. The gaps narrow by roughly a third in the first 2 years of schooling but remain relatively stable for the next 4 years. The development of achievement gaps varies considerably among Hispanic subgroups. Students with Mexican and Central American origins—particularly first- and second-generation immigrants—and those from homes where English is not spoken have the lowest math and reading skill levels at kindergarten entry but show the greatest achievement gains in the early years of schooling.
Our review of research suggests that family poverty has selective effects on child development. Most important for policy are indications that deep or persistent poverty early in childhood affects adversely the ability and achievement of children. Although the 1996 welfare reforms have spurred many welfare-to-work transitions, their time limits and, especially, sanctions are likely to deepen poverty among some families. We suggest ways policies might be aimed at preventing either economic deprivation itself or its effects.
ABSTRACT—There is no universal guideline or rule of thumb for judging the practical importance or substantive significance of a standardized effect size estimate for an intervention. Instead, one must develop empirical benchmarks of comparison that reflect the nature of the intervention being evaluated, its target population, and the outcome measure or measures being used. This approach is applied to the assessment of effect size measures for educational interventions designed to improve student academic achievement. Three types of empirical benchmarks are illustrated: (a) normative expectations for growth over time in student achievement, (b) policy-relevant gaps in student achievement by demographic group or school performance, and (c) effect size results from past research for similar interventions and target populations. The findings can be used to help assess educational interventions, and the process of doing so can provide guidelines for how to develop and use such benchmarks in other fields.
It has been suggested that working memory training programs are effective both as treatments for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other cognitive disorders in children and as a tool to improve cognitive ability and scholastic attainment in typically developing children and adults. However, effects across studies appear to be variable, and a systematic meta-analytic review was undertaken. To be included in the review, studies had to be randomized controlled trials or quasi-experiments without randomization, have a treatment, and have either a treated group or an untreated control group. Twenty-three studies with 30 group comparisons met the criteria for inclusion. The studies included involved clinical samples and samples of typically developing children and adults. Meta-analyses indicated that the programs produced reliable short-term improvements in working memory skills. For verbal working memory, these near-transfer effects were not sustained at follow-up, whereas for visuospatial working memory, limited evidence suggested that such effects might be maintained. More importantly, there was no convincing evidence of the generalization of working memory training to other skills (nonverbal and verbal ability, inhibitory processes in attention, word decoding, and arithmetic). The authors conclude that memory training programs appear to produce short-term, specific training effects that do not generalize. Possible limitations of the review (including age differences in the samples and the variety of different clinical conditions included) are noted. However, current findings cast doubt on both the clinical relevance of working memory training programs and their utility as methods of enhancing cognitive functioning in typically developing children and healthy adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
In a predominantly low-income, population-based longitudinal sample of 1,259 children followed from birth, results suggest that chronic exposure to poverty and the strains of financial hardship were each uniquely predictive of young children's performance on measures of executive functioning. Results suggest that temperament-based vulnerability serves as a statistical moderator of the link between poverty-related risk and children's executive functioning. Implications for models of ecology and biology in shaping the development of children's self-regulation are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
Recent research indicates that children's learning-related skills (including self-regulation and social competence) contribute to early school success. The present study investigated the relation of kindergarten learning-related skills to reading and math trajectories in 538 children between kindergarten and sixth grade, and examined how children with poor learning-related skills fared throughout elementary school on reading and math. Latent growth curves indicated that learning-related skills had a unique effect on children's reading and math scores between kindergarten and sixth grade and predicted growth in reading and math between kindergarten and second grade. In addition, children with poor learning-related skills performed lower than their higher-rated peers on measures of reading and mathematics between kindergarten and sixth grade, with the gap widening between kindergarten and second grade. Between third and sixth grade, this gap persisted but did not widen. Discussion focuses on the importance of early learning-related skills as a component in children's academic trajectories throughout elementary school and the need for early intervention focusing on children's self-regulation and social competence.
The concept of self-regulation has received heightened attention as a key mechanism that predicts a variety of developmental outcomes throughout the life span. Although researchers have focused on self-regulation from a diverse set of perspectives, it is clear that self-regulation has important implications for individual health and well-being starting early in life. In the fields of child psychology and developmental science, an emphasis on Relational-Developmental-Systems (RDS) illuminates how self-regulation contributes to individual development. This chapter reflects the RDS theoretical orientation and focuses on major issues in the study of self-regulation in childhood and adolescence. We start by situating the study of self-regulation within the RDS context and discussing key conceptual issues that guide researchers’ understanding of the development of self-regulation. We then define self-regulation and reviews research on important correlates of self-regulation including academic achievement, motor processes, intelligence, and risk factors. Next, we discuss cross-cultural variation in these skills and person-context relations. We conclude by discussing self-regulation from the perspective of RDS and next steps for studying self-regulation in context, improving intervention efforts, and advancing analytical and measurement methods.
Executive function (EF) refers to the set of neurocognitive skills involved in goal-directed problem solving, including working memory, inhibitory control, and set shifting/flexibility. EF depends importantly upon neural networks involving prefrontal cortex, and continues to improve into early adulthood, although major advances in EF occur during the preschool period. Individual differences in EF are increasingly recognized as a key predictor of long-term cognitive and social developmental outcomes. Research suggests that EF is influenced by both distal and proximal factors in development (e.g., socioeconomic status, culture, language, caregiving, gene–environment interactions, and sleep). Importantly, EF can be trained, with corresponding changes to brain structure and function. In this chapter, we review the structure of EF, including “hot EF” (EF in motivationally significant contexts), age-related changes, atypical development, measurement issues, theories of underlying mechanisms, outcomes associated with EF, influences on EF development, and the recent emergence of training studies.
Emerging self-regulation skills were assessed in 407 low-income African American and Latino (primarily Mexican-origin) preschoolers. A battery of self-regulation tasks was administered when children were 2½ years old and again approximately 1 year later. Confirmatory factor analyses supported four components of self-regulation: inhibitory control, complex response inhibition, set shifting, and working memory. Complex response inhibition was too rare a skill in this sample to be detected reliably from measures collected at 2½ years of age, but it emerged from measures collected at 3½ years. In addition, significant ethnic differences were found in that African American children scored better on measures of complex response inhibition and set shifting, whereas Latino children scored better on measures of inhibitory control and working memory. Implications of study findings for measuring self-regulation in low-income ethnic diverse populations of young children, as well as for developing interventions to enhance self-regulation development, are discussed.
This study of 586 children in 54 Chapter 1 funded classrooms in five geographical areas was part of a national observational study of early childhood programs. The study examined relations between eight teacher and classroom activity variables and 14 child variables. Correlational analyses indicated significant relations between program and teacher variables and children's experiences in the classroom. More program and teacher variables were associated with children's mastery than social experiences. Results indicated some benefits and trade offs when more teacher and classroom time was spent on teaching and on cognitively focused activities.
Studies of the processes by which parents encourage early numerical development in the context of parent–child interactions during routine, culturally relevant activities at home are scarce. The present study was designed to investigate spontaneous exchanges related to numeracy during parent–child interactions in reading and play activities at home. Thirty‐seven families with a four‐year‐old child (13 low‐income) were observed. Two types of numeracy interactions were of interest: socio‐cultural numeracy exchanges, explaining the use and value of money or numbers in routine activities such as shopping or cooking, and mathematical exchanges, including counting, quantity or size comparisons. Results indicated that high‐income parents engaged in more mathematical exchanges during both reading and play than did low‐income parents, though there were no differences in the initiation of socio‐cultural numeracy exchanges. The focus of parental guidance related to numeracy was conceptual and embedded in the activity context, with few dyads focusing on counting or numbers per se. The findings suggest the importance of parent education efforts that incorporate numeracy‐related discourse in the context of daily routines to augment young children’s numeracy development.
