PROMOTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL READINESS AND SELF-REGULATION IN CHILDREN: EMOTION, ATTENTION, AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS

Clancy Blair, PhDDepartment of Applied PsychologySteinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human DevelopmentNew York University

http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/appsych/phd/psychological_development

Departments of Psychology and Human Ecology and the Community‐University Partnership for the

Study of Children, Youth, and Families at the University of Alberta January 22, 2013

The Science of Early Childhood Effects of experience on children’s

development parenting and family neighborhoods, schools, communities

The way in which the context in which child development takes places shapes children’s psychological and biological development

Poverty/Income inequality is rising

Reardon, S. (2011). The widening academic achievement gap between the rich and the poor. In Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances

Disparity in educational outcomes associated with income inequality is growing

Reardon, S. (2011). The widening academic achievement gap between the rich and the poor. In Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances

Troubling Indicators (U.S.)

Kindergarten teacher survey on readiness

Preschool expulsion Increase psychotropic medication use

under age 5

School Readiness

To what extent are poverty related effects on school readiness and achievement attributable to effects on self-regulation as opposed to knowledge base? Complementary but distinct approaches

Questions

Is self-regulation more (or less) important for later achievement than early academic ability?

Differentiation from general cognitive ability? Is early math ability better predictor?

Framing the question frames the analysis Not “either-or” but process and

measurement How does self-regulation/executive function in

early childhood contribute to early and later academic ability

Prediction of Math in Kindergarten

Vocabulary **.22

Raven **.25

Teacher EC **.27

*p < .05, **p < .01

.12

.13

*.18

**.30

**.21

EF in HS

EF in K

β β

Blair & Razza (2007). Child Development

r

Block Design .46***

Vocabulary .34***

Early Math Skills

Applied Problems .54***

Executive Function

Beginning Pre-K .40***

End Pre-K .58***

End K .47***

Welsh et al. (2010). Journal of Educational Psychology

Prediction of Math in Kindergarten

β

.24***

-.03

.20**

-.05

.32***

.30***

β

.29***

.03

.33***

.17*

β

.22***

-.03

.21**

.02

.42***

Math and EF – from preK to K

Welsh et al. (2010). Journal of Educational Psychology

Growth model

Predicting growth in math ability preK to second grade from self-regulation measured in preK controlling for demographic covariates and cognitive ability measured in preK

Growth in Math Ability

Growth Model

Model A Model B Model C

B(S.E.) E.S. B(S.E.) E.S. B(S.E.) E.S.

Within Intercept 407.00 (0.56) *** 407.28 (0.5) *** 422.26 (0.96) ***Age 27.19 (0.56) *** 27.11 (0.56) *** 13.85 (0.97) ***Age sq -1.63 (0.16) *** -1.62 (0.16) *** -0.30 (0.18) †Letter-Word 0.21 (0.01) *** 0.29

BetweenBlack -3.62 (1.22) ** -0.25 (1.18) -3.25 (1.12) **Male 0.87 (1.04) 0.93 (0.95) 1.05 (0.86)Household chaos -3.63 (1.06) *** -0.12 -2.68 (0.93) ** -0.09 -1.47 (0.86) † -0.05Caregiver Education 0.71 (0.28) * 0.09 0.30 (0.26) 0.04 0.06 (0.23) 0.01Income to needs ratio 0.27 (0.57) 0.02 -0.43 (0.52) -0.03 -0.54 (0.45) -0.04Cortisol 0.18 (1.01) -0.06 (0.9) -0.25 (0.83)Alpha Amylase 0.01 (0.22) 0.14 (0.2) 0.04 (0.18)Cortisol * Alpha Amylase -0.17 (0.39) -0.03 (0.33) 0.07 (0.3)Executive Function 49.57 (5.45) *** 0.39 19.86 (4.93) *** 0.16 19.19 (4.49) *** 0.15Effortful Control Direct 1.59 (0.34) *** 0.14 1.01 (0.31) *** 0.09 1.03 (0.27) *** 0.09Effortful Control Teacher 1.22 (0.3) *** 0.14 0.58 (0.27) * 0.07 0.55 (0.24) * 0.06Vocabulary 0.61 (0.06) *** 0.47 0.47 (0.05) *** 0.36Processing speed 0.22 (0.06) *** 0.14 0.09 (0.05) † 0.05

Executive function moderates math preK to K

-1 SD Mean +1 SD30

32

34

36

38

40

42

44

46

TCR -1SD TCR Mean TCR +1 SD

ECLS Math Preschool

EC

LS M

ath

Kin

derg

art

en

-1 SD Mean +1 SD30

32

34

36

38

40

42

44

46

EF -1 SD EF Mean EF +1 SD

ECLS Math Preschool

EC

LS M

ath

Kin

derg

art

en

Self-Regulation and School Outcomes

Blair & Razza (2007). Child Development

Bull & Scerif (2001). Developmental Neuropsychology

Espy, McDiarmid, Cwik, et al. (2004). Developmental Neuropsychology

McClelland, Cameron, Connor, et al. (2007). Developmental Psychology

Bull, Espy, Wiebe, Sheffield, & Nelson (2011) Developmental Science

Gathercole & Pickering (2000). Br Journal of Ed Psych

Brock, Rimm-Kaufmann, et al. (2009). Early Childhood Research Quarterly

Kochanska, Murray, & Harlan (2000). Developmental Psychology

Ponitz, McClelland, Matthews & Morrison (2009) Developmental Psychology

Rhoades, Greenberg, & Domitrovich (2009). Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Raver (2002). SRCD Social Policy Report

Rimm-Kaufmann, Curby, Grimm et al. (2009) Developmental Psychology

Executive FunctionsSocial-Emotional Competence

Executive Functions and School Readiness

Limited experimental data available Educational interventions

Chicago School Readiness Project – Raver, Jones, Li-Grining et al. (2011) Child Development

Project REDI – Bierman, Nix, Greenberg, et al. (2008). Development and Psychopathology

These studies demonstrated some mediation of effects on school readiness through effects on executive functions

No studies have directly addressed enhancement of executive functions as a means to promote school readiness

Tools of the Mind Diamond et al. (2007) Science Trials currently in TN/NC, NYC/Tampa FL, and MA

Chicago School Readiness Project Teacher training and coaching by a

mental health consultant to improve the emotional climate of the classroom, lower children’s level of conflict with peers, and lower teacher stress

Changing the climate should reduce self-regulation challenges for children and teachers, increase attention focus and executive function, and increase learning outcomes

-1.0

-0.6

-0.2

0.2

0.6

1.0

Eff

ect

Siz

e

** **********

CSRP: Impacts on Children’s Self-Regulation and Pre-Academic Skills

SOURCE: Raver, Jones, Li-Grining, Zhai, Bub, & Pressler, 2008NOTES: Significance levels are indicated as * p < 0.10; ** p < 0.05; *** p < 0.01.

CSRP Mediation

Raver et al. (2011). Child Development.

Tools of the Mind

Program based on the work of Lev Vygotsky developed by Deborah Leong and Elena Bodrova

Designed to impact both self-regulation and to teach content skills in literacy and mathematics

An approach to teaching children that changes the way children learn

Tools of the Mind, EF, and academic ability

from Diamond et al. (2007). Science

Tools of the Mind Kindergarten 79 kindergarten classrooms in 29

schools in MA Cluster RCT Data collection in fall and spring of K and

fall of first grade Measures of math, reading, vocabulary,

executive function, control of attention, speed of processing, stress physiology

Make-Believe Play

Mature Make Believe Play: Deep engagement Planned in advance Roles with rules Scenarios that

change and adapt Symbolic props Language used to

plan the play

Children Plan Their Play in PreK

Learning Plan in Kindergarten

Children play games based on fictional narratives

Children follow a learning plan, complete a work product, and set learning goals

Play based on fictional narrative

Cognitive Self-Regulation

Children act as a checker for another child, practicing a version of “reflection on action”

Effects of Tools K on CLASS organization

Effects of Tools K

Math Reading Working Memory

-0.1

-0.05

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

vocabulary attention reasoning

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

Effects on reading growth

300

310

320

330

340

350

360

370

380

390

400

Read

ing

sco

re

Fall K Spring K First grade

Conclusions

Early promise of model preK programs (Perry, Abecedarian) without clear mechanism Self-regulation development from the prenatal

period through school entry might be one relevant lever through which to counteract effects of poverty

Opportunities for measurement and partnership with schools on questions relating to educational effectiveness

Opportunity for meaningful advancement of the science of learning and promotion of educational opportunity

Collaborators and Funders

Penn State UniversityMark Greenberg, PhDDoug Granger, PhD Cynthia Stifter, PhDLeah Hibel, PhDKatie Kivlighan, PhDKristine Voegtline, PhD

UNC Chapel HillLynne Vernon-Feagans, PhDMartha Cox, PhDMargaret Burchinal, PhDMike Willoughby, PhDPatricia Garrett-Peters, PhDRoger Mills-Koonce, PhDEloise Neebe, MALaura Kuhn, MA

FundingNational Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentR03 HD39750 , P01 HD39667, R01 HD51502 (ARRA)Institute of Education Sciences R305A100058

New York University Cybele Raver, PhD,Daniel Berry, PhD Alexandra Ursache, MAEric FinegoodAlyssa PintarRachel McKinnon

Tools of the MindDeborah Leong, PhD,Elena Bodrova, PhD Amy HornbeckBarbara Wilder-Smith