Executive Function Mediates the Relationship Between Conscious Discipline Fidelity and Kindergarten Readiness.

Conscious Discipline is a classroom management program that targets relationship building and socio-emotional learning to improve students' academic performance, as well as executive function (EF) and social skills. Past studies evaluating the effectiveness of this program, however, are limited and have yielded mixed results. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between preschool teachers' Conscious Discipline fidelity and students' kindergarten readiness and social skill development. This study included 873 preschool-aged students from 146 classrooms that used the Conscious Discipline program. We found that Conscious Discipline fidelity was significantly associated with students' EF skill gains, which in turn predicted outcomes on students' overall kindergarten readiness scores as well as their scores on evaluations of their language and literacy, math, social foundations, and physical development specifically. Results suggest that EF skill development mediates the relationship between preschool teachers' Conscious Discipline fidelity and students' kindergarten readiness scores.

Executive function skills and academic achievement gains in prekindergarten: Contributions of learning-related behaviors.

Although research suggests associations between children's executive function skills and their academic achievement, the specific mechanisms that may help explain these associations in early childhood are unclear. This study examined whether children's (N = 1,103; M age = 54.5 months) executive function skills at the beginning of prekindergarten (pre-K) predict their learning-related behaviors in the classroom and whether these behaviors then mediate associations between children's executive function skills and their pre-K literacy, language, and mathematic gains. Learning-related behaviors were quantified in terms of (a) higher levels of involvement in learning opportunities; (b) greater frequency of participation in activities that require sequential steps; (c) more participation in social-learning interactions; and (d) less instances of being unoccupied, disruptive, or in time out. Results indicated that children's learning-related behaviors mediated associations between executive function skills and literacy and mathematics gains through children's level of involvement, sequential learning behaviors, and disengagement from the classroom. The implications of the findings for early childhood education are discussed.

Longitudinal associations between executive functioning and academic skills across content areas.

This study assessed 562 four-year-old children at the beginning and end of their prekindergarten (pre-k) year and followed them to the end of kindergarten. At each time point children were assessed on 6 measures of executive function (EF) and 5 subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson III academic achievement battery. Exploratory factor analyses yielded EF and achievement factor scores. We examined the longitudinal bidirectional associations between these domains as well as the bidirectional associations among the separate content areas and the EF factor. In the pre-k year, strong bidirectional associations were found for EF skills and mathematics and oral comprehension skills but not for literacy skills. After controlling for pre-k gains in both EF and achievement, EF skills continued to be strong predictors of gains in mathematics in kindergarten and a more moderate predictor of kindergarten language gains. These results provide important information on the interrelationship of the developmental domains of EF and achievement as well as support for efforts to determine effective pre-k activities and/or curricula that can improve children's EF skills. They also suggest that mathematics activities may be a possible avenue for improving EF skills in young children.

Preschool classroom processes as predictors of children's cognitive self-regulation skills development.

This research focuses on the associations between interactive processes of early childhood classrooms and gains in children's cognitive self-regulation (CSR) across the preschool year. Data from 803 children (45.8% female; M = 54 months; 39.1% Caucasian, 26.3% African American, 24.6% Hispanic, 9.9% Other) were collected at fall and spring of the preschool year, and classroom observations were conducted three times throughout the year. Multilevel models tested associations between classroom behaviors of teachers and students using the Classroom Observation in Preschool and the Teacher Observation in Preschool and gains children made in a CSR composite score (Dimensional Change Card Sort, Peg Tapping, Head Toes Knees Shoulders, Copy Design, and Corsi Blocks) across the preschool year. After controlling for demographic covariates and children's pretest scores, both affective and cognitive classroom processes were associated with gains. More teacher behavior approving, less disapproving, and more positive emotional tone were associated with gains. The proportion of observed time teachers spent delivering instruction as well as the proportion of time children were involved with mathematics and literacy were also related to CSR gains, as was the quality of teacher instruction. Although exploratory, these results highlight the potential for modifications in classroom practices to aid in children's CSR development.