Poster #23 - Kindergarten executive function skills predict growth in reading ability: A linear growth model

• In Event: Poster Session 19

Abstract

Reading is a complex task that requires the coordination of print- and meaning-related skills. Early differences in these skills are often persistent, whereby children with early difficulties consistently read below the levels of their peers. To better understand how these disparities are established and maintained, researchers have examined how domain-general skills, such as executive function (EF) may contribute to children’s reading development (Cirino et al., 2019). EF skills encompass a set of metacognitive capacities that facilitate the focusing of attention, mental shifting, and maintenance and updating of information in working memory.
Given research establishing links between EF and foundational reading skills, including decoding, word learning, and listening comprehension, this study sought to examine how early EF skills predicted growth trajectories in reading ability through elementary school (Kapa & Erikson, 2020; Peng et al., 2018). Data came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11, which followed a large, representative sample of U.S. students across nine waves of data collection from kindergarten into 5th grade. The final analytic sample consisted of 12,364 children with a mean of 6.21 observations. Children completed two measures of EF: Numbers Reversed (NR) and the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) and completed a standardized reading assessment at each collection interval. Parents reported demographic information and indicators of cognitive stimulation.
We employed hierarchical linear modeling to examine growth in reading ability with observations nested within children. NR and DCCS scores were used to create a composite EF score. The tested models included time invariant predictors, including parent education, child race, primary language spoken at home, and frequency of parent-child book sharing, and child EF collected in kindergarten, time variant predictors (i.e., age, age2). To examine the impact of early EF on reading ability, the final model included two interaction terms (age X EF and age2 X EF). This analysis revealed that EF was associated with greater reading skills in kindergarten (b = 2.791, p < .001). Additionally, we detected significant interaction terms of EF and age (b = 0.246, p < .001) and EF and age2 (b = -0.003, p < .001). Accounting for interaction terms revealed that the overall effect size associated with kindergarten EF on reading scores continued to increase from kindergarten (1 = .241) into 5th grade (9 = .298).
Taken together, the results show that EF plays a significant role in explaining individual differences in reading development. Specifically, early EF skills are associated with differences in reading ability at school entry and that the differences explained by EF persist through elementary school. Our model showed that the gap in reading ability predicted by EF continued to widen through age 10. Our work further highlights long-term impact of early EF skills on educational outcomes using a large, nationally representative sample. Our results also underscore the need to investigate sources of individual differences in EF and potential targets for interventions. Doing so may have consequences for children’s EF skills as well as the numerous contexts in which children leverage EF, including reading.

Authors

• Patrick Hanlin, University of California - Berkeley
  Presenting Author

• Anne Cunningham, University of California - Berkeley