Cognition in Context: Validating Group-Based Executive Function Assessments in Young Children

• In Event: Executive Function in the Preschool Classroom: Understanding the Peers’ Influence and Group-based EF Assessments

Abstract

While rooted in neuropsychological and cognitive research, executive function (EF) has become a major focus in educational and developmental research over the past two decades, given its role in supporting early learning and school readiness (e.g., McClelland et al., 2007; Blair, 2002). Despite this, the use of standardized neurocognitive measures continues to dominate the applied EF literature (e.g., Weintraub et al., 2013; Zelazo, Blair, Willoughby, 2016).
Although there are many benefits of the experimental precision afforded by laboratory-based neurocognitive tasks, it is unclear the degree to which these assessments reflect the complexities of employing EF skills in early classroom settings. Early learning environments tend to exert demands on children’s ability to initiate behaviors, stay on-task, and monitor performance - often in the presence natural distractors and social interactions with peers and teachers. Therefore, in the current study, we test the feasibility of administering group-based EF assessments with young students in a school setting. These tasks were designed to capture EF while children engage in activities like those they might encounter in typical early classroom settings.
Participants were 283 kindergarteners (149 boys) from seven elementary schools (26 classrooms). Individually-assessed EF tasks were HTKS, Digit-Span Backwards, and Pair Cancellation (WJ3). Math and reading achievement were measured using the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Across all three group-based EF tasks, groups of five kindergarten students were instructed to march in a circle, and to carry out various actions prompted by musical cues. Performance was scored using accuracy indicators and reaction times. Behavioral coding was conducted using the ELAN computer software (ELAN Version 5.8).
A three-factor solution of inhibitory control, working memory and attention control latent factors best fit the group-based EF data. Bivariate correlations revealed moderate correlations among group and lab-based EF tasks as well as math and reading achievement (see Table 1). SEM revealed unique associations between group-based EF factors and corresponding lab-based EF components (see Figure 1). Further, group-based working memory uniquely predicted academic achievement in the presence of covariates and the other two group-based components (see Figure 1). All analyses included group fixed effects to account for clustering around the experimental groups (N = 55).
Overall, this study represents a first step towards developing a set of group-based EF measures that are appropriate for use with young children. Compared to traditional, individual assessments, these group-based tasks enable researchers to simultaneously collect data from groups of children, which significantly reduces testing time, and resources. Further, the materials needed for these tasks are minimal, easy to transport, and are simple to administer - making them a practical, low-cost, and potentially scalable method of data collection for school-based studies. There are also significant empirical advantages of using ecologically sensitive measures to understand cognitive development, and have implications for the ways researchers conceptualize and measure early cognitive processes. The use of contextually sensitive EF measures has the potential to enhance our understanding of how EF manifests in a naturalistic setting and how it relates to specific classroom behavior and academic outcomes.

Authors

• Sammy Ahmed, University of Rhode Island
  Presenting Author

• Jennie K Grammer, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Non-Presenting Author

• Frederick J Morrison, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
  Non-Presenting Author