Multigrade kindergarten classrooms and children's academic achievement, executive function, and socioemotional development

Ansari, Arya

doi:10.1002/icd.2036

Cited by 12 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…As such, as such, future work should seek to understand characteristics of children, families, teachers, classrooms, and schools that may be associated with divergent trajectories specifically in EF over time. For instance, relative disadvantages in early EF trajectories have been found for boys (Conway et al, 2018;Wiebe et al, 2008Wiebe et al, , 2012, children from low-SES or impoverished backgrounds (Conway et al, 2018), and relatively older children in mixed-age classrooms compared to children with same-age peers (Ansari, 2017).…”

Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental trajectories of executive functions from preschool to kindergarten

Reilly

Downer

Grimm

2022

Developmental Science

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Executive functions (EF) are key predictors of long‐term success that develop rapidly in early childhood. However, EF's developmental trajectory from preschool to kindergarten is not fully understood due to conceptual ambiguity (e.g., whether it is a single construct or multiple related constructs) and methodological limitations (e.g., previous work has primarily examined linear growth). Whether and how this trajectory differs based on characteristics of children and their families also remains to be characterized. In a primarily low‐income, racially and ethnically diverse, typically developing, urban sample, the present study employed confirmatory factor analyses to examine the construct of EF and latent growth curve modeling to examine nonlinear growth across five time points. Results indicated that the development of a single EF construct with partial measurement invariance across time points was best characterized as nonlinear, with disproportionately more growth during the preschool year. There was individual variability in EF trajectories, such that children with higher EF at preschool entry showed relatively steeper growth during preschool compared to low‐EF peers. However, children with less EF growth in preschool had steeper growth in kindergarten, attenuating the gains of high‐EF preschoolers and resulting in some convergence in EF by the end of kindergarten. Findings have implications for (1) examining EF development in early childhood with more specificity in future studies, (2) informing the timing of EF interventions in early childhood, and (3) identifying children for whom such interventions might be especially beneficial.

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Section: 2mentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental trajectories of executive functions from preschool to kindergarten

Reilly

Downer

Grimm

2022

Developmental Science

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“…We focused on measures of academic achievement and executive function that have strong psychometric properties, are commonly used in middle childhood research, and have been previously shown to predict later outcomes within this sample (Ansari, 2017).…”

Section: Child Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elementary disruptions? Exploring residential move type, timing, and duration of implications during middle childhood

Anastasio

Leventhal

2023

Child Development

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Moving is common during middle childhood, but links between move type and children's development are less well understood. Using nationally‐representative, longitudinal data (2010–2016) of ~9900 U.S. kindergarteners (52% boys, 51.48% White, 26.11% Hispanic/Latino, 10.63% Black, 11.78% Asian/Pacific Islander), we conducted multiple‐group fixed‐effects models estimating associations of within‐ and between‐neighborhood moves, family income, and children's achievement and executive function, testing whether associations persisted or varied by developmental timing. Analyses suggest important spatial and temporal dimensions of moving during middle childhood: between‐neighborhood moves had stronger associations than within‐neighborhood moves, earlier moves benefited development whereas later moves did not, and associations persisted with significant effect sizes (cumulative Hedges' g = −0.09–1.35). Research and policy implications are discussed.

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“…Prior research has indicated that EF is associated with demographic factors such as age (e.g., Anderson, 2002) and socioeconomic status (e.g., Hackman et al, 2015); health-related factors such as disability status (e.g., Schoemaker et al, 2012) and physical activity levels (Best, 2010); and factors related to parent–child engagement such as disciplinary strategies (e.g., Fay-Stammbach et al, 2014) and frequency of parent–child interactions (e.g., Devine et al, 2016). In addition, school-level factors, such as presence of multigrade classrooms (Ansari, 2017) and school socioeconomic status are associated with child EF. Group differences in these factors that may be due to several potential causes such as opportunity gaps or cultural differences confound empirical evaluations of EF.…”

Section: Challenges and Implications Of Evaluating The Bilingual Adva...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Spanish-English bilingual children outperform monolingual English-speaking children on executive function tasks in early childhood? A propensity score analysis.

Goodrich¹,

Koziol²,

Yoon³

et al. 2022

Journal of Educational Psychology

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Despite much research examining whether bilingual individuals demonstrate superior executive function (EF) skills compared to monolinguals, the purported bilingual advantage remains controversial. One potential reason for discrepant findings across studies examining the bilingual advantage is the difficulty in matching monolingual and bilingual groups on important confounding variables that are related to EF. To address this limitation of prior research, we used a propensity score matching approach to evaluate the presence of the bilingual advantage in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011. Consistent with recent theories of EF development; we hypothesized that before matching, we would observe bilingual advantages on report-but not performance-based measures of EF. However, we expected that after matching bilingual and monolingual children on a comprehensive set of covariates there would be no group differences in EF. We matched bilingual Spanish-English and monolingual English kindergarteners on a comprehensive set of child-and school-level covariates and conducted a sensitivity analysis to evaluate whether results were sensitive to unobserved confounds. After matching groups (n = 252 matched pairs of monolingual and bilingual children), bilinguals had greater teacher-rated inhibitory control and attentional focus than did monolinguals; however, only the effect for inhibitory control was robust to unobserved confounds. In contrast, no effects of bilingualism were observed for performance-based measures of working memory or cognitive flexibility. Results are discussed in the context of recent theoretical models of EF development in early childhood. Educational Impact and Implications StatementRecent theory suggests that children's engagement in goal-directed behavior (e.g., sharing toys with friends) directly influences their cognitive development. In addition, there is debate over the extent to which the unique experiences of bilingual children afford advantages in cognitive development. Our findings suggest that young bilingual children's unique experiences lead to greater ability to use cognitive skills to engage in goal-directed behavior, when compared to monolingual children. Therefore, bilingualism may have important influences on cognitive development that can help support children's success in school and beyond.

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Multigrade kindergarten classrooms and children's academic achievement, executive function, and socioemotional development

Cited by 12 publications

References 39 publications

Developmental trajectories of executive functions from preschool to kindergarten

Developmental trajectories of executive functions from preschool to kindergarten

Elementary disruptions? Exploring residential move type, timing, and duration of implications during middle childhood

Do Spanish-English bilingual children outperform monolingual English-speaking children on executive function tasks in early childhood? A propensity score analysis.

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