Off-Task Behavior in Kindergarten: Relations to Executive Function

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

Integrative Statement

Past research has demonstrated the importance of behavioral self-regulation in early elementary school, especially its impact on overall learning and resulting academic achievement (Pianta & Rimm-Kaufman, 2006; McClelland, Acock, & Morrison, 2006) Behavioral self-regulation is typically measured with direct assessments of executive functioning (EF), however it’s important to understand children’s self-regulation in context—and observe the manifestation of EF in the classroom.
Few studies have related observations of classroom behavior to direct assessments of self-regulation and resulting academic achievement (see Cadima, Doumen, Verschueren, & Buyse, 2015; Nesbitt, Farran & Fuhs, 2015 for examples), and even fewer studies have focused on how specifically the duration of time spent off-task relates to self-regulation outcomes (Day, Connor & McClelland, 2015), and literacy achievement (McLean et al., 2016). Thus, the current study aims to look at observations of off-task behavior and explicitly relate these behaviors to both direct assessments of EF in Kindergarten and resulting academic achievement in 1st grade.
A total of 172 children (46% females) were tested on direct assessments of EF (working memory, response inhibition & attentional control) and academic achievement (math, reading comprehension & letter-word identification) in the fall of Kindergarten and 1st grade, and classroom observations of children’s off-task behavior were conducted in the spring of Kindergarten. Off-task behavior was further categorized into subtypes of this behavior—off-task not-engaged (e.g., mind-wandering, passively disengaged), off-task other-activity (e.g., actively participating in another activity; interacting with materials/supplies), off-task peer (e.g., talking with one’s peer), and other—to see whether these sub-categorizations differentially relate to components of EF and further academic achievement.
Linear regressions were conducted, controlling for age, gender, school and clustering standard errors at the classroom level. Results illustrate that, in Kindergarten, subtypes of off-task behavior differentially predict inhibitory control (off-task other-activity) and working memory (off-task not-engaged), but not attentional control. Furthermore, we found that time spent off-task not-engaged predicted reading comprehension in 1st grade, above and beyond direct assessments of executive functioning.
This study sheds light on the utility of classifying children’s off-task behavior—especially time spent in off-task not-engaged behavior—as it relates to achievement outcomes in early elementary school.

Authors

• Lillie Moffett, University of Michigan
  Presenting Author

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