Poster #87 - The Role of Executive Function in the Academic Achievement of Young Latino Elementary Students

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

The academic achievement gap between Latino and White students is well-documented (Reardon & Galindo, 2009), and much of this gap is attributed to differences in socioeconomic status (SES) and early English language skills. Latino children constitute the single largest group of children living in poverty (Lopez & Velasco, 2011) – a well-established risk factor for academic achievement (Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997; Sirin, 2005), and nearly 80% of ELs in U.S. schools are Spanish-speaking (IES, 2017).
There is consensus regarding the importance of English skills for future academic performance (Hoff, 2013), but less is known about other cognitive skills, which are not necessarily predicated on English abilities, that might aid young Latinos in elementary grades. One such skill is executive function (EF), and research links early EF to future academic performance (Best, Miller, & Naglieri, 2011; Duncan et al., 2007). There is also evidence of a bilingual advantage for EF; children from dual language environments often exhibit higher EF than monolingual children (Kroll & Bialystok, 2013).
The current study considers the role of EF in the reading and math achievement of Latino elementary students through two research questions: (1) does the kindergarten EF of Latino students mediate the relationship between SES and English oral language skills and second grade achievement; and (2) are there differences between Latinos and monolingual-English Whites in how EF mediates the relationship between SES and English oral language skills and second grade achievement?
I use the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011), which includes demographic information, measures of reading and math achievement, and EF for a nationally representative sample of kindergarteners.
A series of multiple regression models were run for both Latinos and Whites, first establishing the main effects of SES and English oral language on second grade reading and math after controlling for prior achievement, and then adding EF to the models. All models include relevant covariates (including generation and country of origin), full maximum likelihood adjustments for missing data, and sampling and cluster adjustments to account for the ECLS-K:2011 survey design. To test for heterogeneous impacts of EF between Latinos and Whites, I conducted tests for equality of coefficients. Sobel-Goodman tests were also conducted to test for mediation. As a future step, structural equation modeling will be employed.
Preliminary findings indicate that working memory mediates the impacts of SES and English oral language on reading and math for Latinos, and cognitive flexibility mediates the impact of SES and English oral language on reading. Further, EF may have a greater mediating impact on the relationship between SES and English oral language and achievement for Latinos than Whites, most evident in the impact of working memory on math (Tables 1 & 2).
These findings suggest the import of EF, particularly working memory, for the second grade academic skills of Latinos. This study offers educators, who are looking for ways to better support Latino children’s cognitive and academic development, insight into the potential value of incorporating activities that focus on enhancing EF – primarily working memory – competencies.

Author

• Christa Mulker Greenfader, California State University, Fullerton
  Presenting Author