3-125 - Self-regulation in school: Classroom and child influences

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Behavioral self-regulation supports young children’s learning and uniquely predicts growth of academic achievement. This skill is typically measured via one-on-one assessments of executive functioning (EF), that tax children’s working memory, response inhibition and attentional control. Fewer studies, however, have attempted to capture behavioral self-regulation directly in the classroom.
In this symposium, we bring together four unique classroom observation coding systems that focus on the relation between classroom processes and EF outcomes. Paper 1 illustrates the importance of both teacher emotional tone, instructional quality as well as student’s social-learning and engagement in promoting EF development in preK. Paper 2 develops and evaluates a new classroom observation coding system to assess the fidelity of a self-regulation intervention in preK. Paper 3 identifies specific child off-task behaviors that differentially predict EF components and subsequent academic achievement gains. Finally, Paper 4 looks at how off-task behavior relates to EF gains, and how this differs depending on the child’s baseline EF and grade level in school.
This symposium will highlight recent advances in measuring self-regulation directly in the classroom. The findings across studies reveal the crucial importance of both classroom and individual factors (and their interaction) in shaping developmental trajectories of self-regulation and academic achievement during the transition to school. Further, the success of these initiatives leads to direct recommendations for assessing classroom experiences that impact growth of children’s self-regulation.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Frederick J Morrison, University of Michigan

Individual Presentations

• Differential Effects of Prekindergarten Practices on Executive Function Development - Presenting Author: Kimberly T Nesbitt, University of New Hampshire; Non-Presenting Author: Dale C Farran, Vanderbilt University; Non-Presenting Author: Mary Fuhs, University of Dayton

• Developing a Preschool Observational Measure to Assess Group Time Intervention Success - Presenting Author: Shauna Tominey, Oregon State University; Non-Presenting Author: Bridget E Hatfield, Oregon State University; Non-Presenting Author: Alexis Tracy, Oregon State University; Non-Presenting Author: Christopher Gonzales, Oregon State University; Non-Presenting Author: Megan McClelland, Oregon State University

• Off-Task Behavior in Kindergarten: Relations to Executive Function - Presenting Author: Lillie Moffett, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Frederick J Morrison, University of Michigan

• Using the Optimizing Learning Opportunities for Students (OLOS) observation system to track growth in self-regulation skills - Presenting Author: Ashley Adams, University of California Irvine; Non-Presenting Author: Carol Connor, University of California Irvine