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Examining Classroom-Based Executive Functioning Tasks and Relations to Elementary Students’ Mathematical Word-Problem Solving

Fri, March 24, 10:15 to 11:45am, Salt Palace Convention Center, Floor: 3, Meeting Room 355 C

Abstract

Measurement of executive functioning (EF) is a rapidly growing component of intervention research. However, many EF measures developed in cognitive psychology labs are individually administered and, if validated, are validated in the context of lab-based experiments. This presents challenges for classroom-based intervention research exploring how executive functioning is related to learning and academic growth. First, intervention research often requires scaling-up from pilot studies to multiple classrooms, districts, and geographical sites. In scaling up, EF measurement must often transition from individually administered, lab-based tasks to group-administered tasks. Second, interventions are often interested in measuring growth on relatively specific constructs targeted by each intervention. Although some prior studies have explored group assessment of EF in a classroom context (e.g., Ahmed et al., 2021; Obradovic et al., 2018), it remains important to validate multiple measures in multiple contexts using multiple approaches/technologies to suit future intervention work.

As a part of validating EF measures, it is important to understand the predictive power of such measures. Research has suggested a robust association between EF and mathematical skills throughout schooling (e.g., Best et al., 2011). Relations are particularly strong between EF and word-problem solving, which requires students to inhibit unimportant information, shift between strategies based on mathematical vocabulary presented in the problem, and planfully execute multiple steps in service of solving the problem (e.g., Viterbori et al., 2017).

In this study, we examine the relations of several classroom-based assessments of EF skills to each other and mathematical word-problem solving performance. Students (N = 102; 54% female) included 68% 3rd graders, 26% 4th graders, and 6% 5th graders, from two districts in the Midwestern and Western U.S. The sample was 41% White, 26% Latine, 19% Multiracial, 9% Black, 5% Other race/ethnicity. Most students’ parents’ (85%) highest level of education was below an Associate’s Degree. Students completed five EF tasks: Digit Span, Hearts and Flowers, Odd and Even, Wisconsin Card Sorting, and Plus-Minus in a 30-minute session. Following group-administered directions, students were provided sample items before each task. In a separate session, students completed a group-administered mathematical word-problem solving task including both single- and multi-step problems (Powell et al., 2021).

We will present analyses addressing three goals:
1) Assess each task’s functionality
2) Explore intercorrelations among group-administered EF measures
3) Examine relations among specific EF skills and single- and multi-step problem-solving performance

Results suggest group-administered EF measures were successful in measuring EF in a classroom setting—which takes into consideration task demands that students deal with on a day-to-day basis in their learning environments which are not captured by traditional one-on-one assessment—for all tasks. Performance was normally distributed and most students performed above chance. Intercorrelations among most EF tasks were significant, at either a small or medium magnitude. Additionally, we identified small- and medium-sized correlations among a few specific EF measures and word-problem performance. Implications for scaling EF measurement in intervention research and the role of EF in mathematical problem solving will be discussed.

Authors