The Accuracy of Teacher Ratings of Working Memory in Students Who Are English Learners

• In Event: Assessment in K–12 Schools

Abstract

Working memory (WM) has been identified as a strong predictor of academic achievement (Seigel & Ryan, 1989; Swanson, Orosco, & Lussier, 2014). Research has indicated that children with low WM capacity have difficulty with cognitively demanding activities (Gathercole, Durling, Evans, Jeffcock, & Stone, 2008; Lamont & Alloway, 2006). Many of these students are misdiagnosed and identified by teachers as being inattentive, highly distractible and as having short attention spans (Gathercole, Alloway, Kirkwood, Elliott, Holmes, & Hilton, 2008). The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between teacher observations of students’ WM and students’ actual WM performance, while accounting for other factors such as language proficiency, reading and math achievement, and measures of inattention.

Authors

• Jennifer Kong, Chapman University

• Harpreet Uppal, North Orange Continuing Education

• Christy Yan, California State University Fullerton

• Lee Swanson, The University of New Mexico