6.6 How is executive functioning tied to achievement at school?

Objectives:

A. Clarify challenges involved in defining the relationships between EFs, school readiness, and student achievement.

B. Summarize key research findings underlying the professional optimism that an EF focus will support student achievement.

All available evidence indicates a rapid growth of EF skills between 3 and 6 years of age. During that same period, children begin leaving home for part of the day to attend more formal learning settings where they acquire fundamental academic skills. Which of the following four scenarios do you think best describes how the observed gains in EF skills are related to observed gains in early academic skills?

1. The relationship between EF and early academic achievement is weak or nonexistent.

2. Gains in EF drive gains in early academic achievement.

3. Gains in early academic achievement drive gains in EF.

4. EF and early academic achievement support one another with mutual, bidirectional gains.

Readers might be inclined to choose Scenario 4, having noted at various points in these pages that developing systems tend to influence one another in back-and-forth ways. And sure enough, of the four offered scenarios, Scenario 4 may be best supported by the evidence (Welsh et al., 2010; Fuhs et al., 2014; Clements et al., 2016), especially regarding early mathematics achievement. However, other evidence supports Scenario 3, and so the question remains open. While there is little doubt that EF has a key role in early achievement, further experimental study is needed to confirm or refute a bidirectional relationship.

The above multiple-choice question is itself instructive because on more closely

considering the four scenarios, we soon realize that none, as stated, could ever tell the

whole story. Hidden in their wordings is hypothetical nuance that research teams must

expose for more careful accounting. For example, Scenario 1 may be generally true yet

mask important influence that one EF component has on academic gains. Or Scenarios 3

or 4 could be true but only during the preschool years before the influence of EF tails. Or

it could be that one or more unaccounted variables, such as IQ or level of parent education

or socioeconomic class can substantially influence both EF and achievement, resulting in Scenarios 2, 3, or 4 appearing to be true. Or, as implied above, Scenarios 2, 3, or 4 could

indeed be true but only in the case of specific subject areas.

Quite clearly, research teams have their work cut out trying to understand how and to what degree EF skills and academic skills promote one another. Various skills and their relationships must be defined and mapped, and developmental trajectories teased out with care. The work occurring on each of those fronts complicates work on the other simply because some EF skills are thought to nest within others in varying degrees. And yet, the field of EF research is tremendously optimistic that its work can inform the classroom.

In their review of EF research and its implications for educational research and practice,

Zelazo et al. (2016) identified three leading reasons for this optimism, directly quoted here:

1. Childhood EF skills provide an essential foundation for learning and adaptation

across a wide range of contexts, including at school.

2. Difficulties with EF are associated with learning challenges and behaviour

problems. They are also a prominent feature of many emotional and behavioural

disorders (EBDs); neurodevelopmental disorders, such as attention deficit

hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); autism spectrum disorders (ASD); and specific

learning disabilities that interfere with children’s education.

3. EF skills are malleable, meaning they can be influenced and changed by both

positive and negative experiences. For example, stress, poverty, and disadvantage

are associated with worse EF skills. However, supportive caregiving, high-quality

early education, and even practice can help improve EF skills. A key consideration

here is the extent to which schooling in childhood shapes the development of EF and the extent to which EF is important for doing well in school (pp. 1–2).

The idea that EFs support early education outcomes has strengthened in the last decade.

Drawing from the work of others in the field, Fuhs et al. (2014) have concluded that EFs may play a crucial role in the early acquisition of academic skills because they help young students adapt to the ongoing activity that is typical of a classroom. Extensive empirical evidence indicates strong relationships among EFs, school readiness, and early achievement (see, for example, McClelland et al., 2007; Cameron et al., 2012; Fuhs et al., 2014; Blair & Raver, 2015; Ackerman & Friedman-Kraus, 2017). Moreover, research lines with a longer view indicate that EF assessments during early childhood predict future grades, high school completion, and college graduation (Zelazo et al., 2016). Although studies that address the influence of EF at any specific point in development are typically going to be correlational, researchers, policymakers, and school-based educators understandably view these findings with interest. As a result, one emphasis in preschool research has been identifying the early education “experiences and environments” that will optimize EF development (Ackerman & Friedman-Krauss, 2017, p. 1). Many also wonder whether EF and achievement influence one another bidirectionally, and whether that influence might only occur in certain subject areas, or during a particular developmental window.