Executive Function Skills and Academic Achievement Gains in Prekindergarten: Contributions of Learning-Related Behaviors

Although research suggests associations between children's executive function skills and their academic achievement, the specific mechanisms that may help explain these associations in early childhood are unclear. This study examined whether children's (N = 1,103; M age = 54.5 months) exec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental psychology 2015-07, Vol.51 (7), p.865-878
Main Authors: Nesbitt, Kimberly Turner, Farran, Dale Clark, Fuhs, Mary Wagner
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Achievement Gains
Child Development
Child, Preschool
Children
Children & youth
Classrooms
Cognitive Ability
Correlation
Correlation analysis
Early childhood education
Early Intervention (Education) - methods
Educational Status
Emergent Literacy
Executive Function
Executive Function - physiology
Female
Human
Humans
Interaction
Interpersonal Relations
Interpersonal Relationship
Language
Language Skills
Learning
Literacy
Male
Mathematical Ability
Mathematics
Mathematics Skills
North Carolina
Predictor Variables
Preschool Children
Preschool Education
Preschool Students
Skills
Social interaction
Socioeconomic Factors
Statistical Analysis
Structural Equation Models
Student Behavior
Student Evaluation
Student Participation
Tennessee
United States
Vulnerable Populations
Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement
Young Children
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Summary:Although research suggests associations between children's executive function skills and their academic achievement, the specific mechanisms that may help explain these associations in early childhood are unclear. This study examined whether children's (N = 1,103; M age = 54.5 months) executive function skills at the beginning of prekindergarten (pre-K) predict their learning-related behaviors in the classroom and whether these behaviors then mediate associations between children's executive function skills and their pre-K literacy, language, and mathematic gains. Learning-related behaviors were quantified in terms of (a) higher levels of involvement in learning opportunities; (b) greater frequency of participation in activities that require sequential steps; (c) more participation in social-learning interactions; and (d) less instances of being unoccupied, disruptive, or in time out. Results indicated that children's learning-related behaviors mediated associations between executive function skills and literacy and mathematics gains through children's level of involvement, sequential learning behaviors, and disengagement from the classroom. The implications of the findings for early childhood education are discussed.
ISSN:0012-1649
1939-0599
DOI:10.1037/dev0000021