School-, Classroom-, and Dyadic-Level Experiences: A Literature Review of Their Relationship With Students’ Executive Functioning Development

Abstract

Executive functioning (EF) is key to students’ school and lifelong success and reflects both genetic predisposition and sensitivity to negative and positive experiences. Yet there is less available literature investigating the relationship between typical experiences within school environments and student EF development. This is unfortunate, as school environments are potentially more malleable than home- or community-based factors. Thus, the purpose of this article is to present a systematic review of the literature from 2000 to 2017 to understand how school-, classroom-, and dyadic-level (teacher–student and peer–student) experiences relate to student EF development. Across 20 studies, we found that classroom emotional support and teacher–student conflict were the most consistent predictors of student EF development, with emerging support for school-level and peer-level variables. We discuss findings in relation to school-based inhibitors and facilitators of student EF and provide implications for education research and practice.

The Association Between School Discipline and Self-Control From Preschoolers to High School Students: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis

“…Scholars have theorized school discipline as a critical factor that instills students with self-control (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990; Sameroff, 2010). Extending studies that reveal the importance of a good teacher-student relationship in the development of EF (Cumming et al, 2020; Vandenbroucke et al, 2018), this three-level meta-analysis is the first to synthesize the association between three school discipline components (i.e., structure, support, and teacher-student relationship) and self-control from preschooler to high school students. Our findings showed that school discipline is positively related to self-control, and this association is at small-to-medium effect size, according to Cohen’s (1992) benchmarks.…”

“…We searched articles that were published up to the end of October 2018 through three electronic databases 1 : the Education Resources Information Center, PsycINFO, and PubMed with three categories of key phrases: (1) key words regarding school terms ( teach* or class* or school* or teacher-child* or teacher-student* or academic* or educat* or disciplin* or preschool* or kindergarten ), (2) key words regarding self-control terms ( self-control or self-regulation or self-discipline or effortful control or executive* or impul* or delay of gratification ), and (3) key words regarding students/children/adolescents ( adolescen* or youth* or teen* or child* or student* or pupil* ). In addition to electronic databases, we also traced the reference lists of the prior meta-analysis and systematic review of similar topic (Cumming et al, 2020; Vandenbroucke et al, 2018) and added potentially eligible studies for further coding.…”

“…Based on 23 studies, they found that a high-quality teacher-student relationship is positively related to better general EF, working memory, and inhibition, but not to cognitive flexibility. Cumming et al (2020) presented a systemic review examining the association between school-, classroom-, and dyadic-level experiences and EF. Based on 20 studies, they found that classroom emotional support and teacher-student conflict were the most consistent predictors of student EF development.…”

Fair Teachers, Fair Police? Assessing the Pathways between Perceptions of Teacher and Police Authority in Childhood and Adolescence

“…Although parental socialization played a relatively larger role as expected, higher school socialization, measured by the school’s ability to monitor and discipline bad behavior, was associated with higher self-control among adolescents. More broadly, reviews have shown that school and classroom environments characterized by punitiveness, low emotional support, and teacher–child conflict can inhibit the development of executive functioning that regulates impulses, decision-making, and goal-oriented behaviors (Cumming et al, 2020 ; Vandenbroucke et al, 2018 ).…”

Strengthening Executive Function and Self-Regulation Through Teacher-Student Interaction in Preschool and Primary School Children: A Systematic Review

“…The proposed framework organises TSI into three domains reflecting distinct features of these interactions; namely, emotional support (for instance, acknowledging children's emotions and experiences, and sensitively responding to them), classroom organisation (for instance, clarifying the rules and expectations), and instructional support (for instance, asking open-ended questions) (Downer et al, 2010;Hamre et al, 2013). In agreement with the framework, numerous observational studies have shown a correlation between the quality of TSI at the classroom level (i.e., emotional, instructional, and organisational support) and children's EF/SR skills (e.g., Cadima et al, 2015b;Crockett et al, 2017;Acar et al, 2018;Goble et al, 2019; for a review, see Cumming et al, 2019). For instance, a recent meta-analysis (Vandenbroucke et al, 2017(Vandenbroucke et al, , 2018 informs further regarding the strength of the correlations between these concepts, and overall effect sizes indicate small to medium associations between TSI and working memory, and a small association with inhibition, but not cognitive flexibility.…”