Kindergarten Predictors of Third-Grade Achievement: Influences of Self-Regulation and Early Language Development

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Language Learning (Table 10)

Abstract

Young children’s self-regulation and early language have been shown to independently predict children’s school achievement, particularly reading and mathematics. Controlling for SES, sex and kindergarten entry age, hierarchical multiple regression was used to test the hypothesis that children’s self-regulation and early language at the beginning of kindergarten would predict third-grade achievement. Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 (ECLS-K:2011) were used to test the hypotheses. The hypothesized models suggest that self-regulation and language development skills assessed at the beginning of kindergarten are predictive of third-grade academic achievement. While the factors were individually predictive, the regression model was the strongest when it included the factors collectively. Implications for both policy and practice are noted.

Author

• Dominic F. Gullo, Drexel University