Browse
Submit Data
Databases
API
Help

Dataset Information

31 Views

0 Connections

0 Citations

0 Reanalyses

0 Downloads

Omics score: 0

Individual differences in executive function partially explain the socioeconomic gradient in middle-school academic achievement.

ABSTRACT: Children from families with low socioeconomic status (SES) earn lower grades, perform worse on achievement tests, and attain less education on average than their peers from higher-SES families. We evaluated neurocognitive mediators of SES disparities in achievement in a diverse sample of youth whose data were linked to administrative records of performance on school-administered tests of 7th grade reading and math proficiency (N = 203). We used structural equation modeling to evaluate whether associations between SES (measured at ages 8-9) and achievement (measured at age 13) are mediated by verbal ability and executive function (measured at age 10), a suite of top-down mental processes that facilitate control of thinking and behavior. Children from relatively higher-SES families performed better than their lower-SES peers on all neurocognitive and achievement measures, and SES disparities in both reading and math achievement were partially mediated by variation in executive function, but not verbal ability. SES disparities in executive function explained approximately 37% of the SES gap in math achievement and 17% of the SES gap in reading achievement. Exploratory modeling suggests that SES-related variation in working memory may play a particularly prominent role in mediation. We discuss potential implications of these findings for research, intervention programming, and classroom practice.

SUBMITTER: Albert WD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7392118 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Json Xml

Similar Datasets

Cross-class friendship and academic achievement in middle school.

Project description:Academic achievement disparities based on parental education are robust during the middle school years. The current study examined whether cross-class friendship (i.e., reciprocal relationships between peers with different levels of parental education) decrease class-based achievement differences during a developmental phase when friends are particularly important. Relying on a sample of 4,288 sixth grade students (M = 12.03 years) from 26 ethnically diverse middle schools, multilevel analyses were conducted predicting seventh-grade grade point average, standardized achievement test scores, and teacher-rated academic engagement. The associations between parental education and academic achievement were reduced when students had at least 1 cross-class friendship at sixth grade. The findings are discussed in terms of how socioeconomic diversity of school-based friendships can level the academic playing field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

| S-EPMC6711167 | biostudies-literature

Reappraising academic and social adversity improves middle school students' academic achievement, behavior, and well-being.

Project description:The period of early adolescence is characterized by dramatic changes, simultaneously affecting physiological, psychological, social, and cognitive development. The physical transition from elementary to middle school can exacerbate the stress and adversity experienced during this critical life stage. Middle school students often struggle to find social and emotional support, and many students experience a decreased sense of belonging in school, diverting students from promising academic and career trajectories. Drawing on psychological insights for promoting belonging, we fielded a brief intervention designed to help students reappraise concerns about fitting in at the start of middle school as both temporary and normal. We conducted a district-wide double-blind experimental study of this approach with middle school students (n = 1,304). Compared with the control condition activities, the intervention reduced sixth-grade disciplinary incidents across the district by 34%, increased attendance by 12%, and reduced the number of failing grades by 18%. Differences in benefits across demographic groups were not statistically significant, but some impacts were descriptively larger for historically underserved minority students and boys. A mediational analysis suggested 80% of long-term intervention effects on students' grade point averages were accounted for by changes in students' attitudes and behaviors. These results demonstrate the long-term benefits of psychologically reappraising stressful experiences during critical transitions and the psychological and behavioral mechanisms that support them. Furthermore, this brief intervention is a highly cost-effective and scalable approach that schools may use to help address the troubling decline in positive attitudes and academic outcomes typically accompanying adolescence and the middle school transition.

| S-EPMC6697885 | biostudies-literature

Do Student Mindsets Differ by Socioeconomic Status and Explain Disparities in Academic Achievement in the United States?

Project description:Students from higher-socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds show a persistent advantage in academic outcomes over lower-SES students. It is possible that students' beliefs about academic ability, or mindsets, play some role in contributing to these disparities. Data from a recent nationally representative sample of ninth-grade students in U.S. public schools provided evidence that higher SES was associated with fewer fixed beliefs about academic ability (a group difference of .22 standard deviations). Also, there was a negative association between a fixed mindset and grades that was similar regardless of a student's SES. Finally, student mindsets were a significant but small factor in explaining the existing relationship between SES and achievement. Altogether, mindsets appear to be associated with socioeconomic circumstances and academic achievement; however, the vast majority of the existing socioeconomic achievement gap in the U.S. is likely driven by the root causes of inequality.

| S-EPMC7156083 | biostudies-literature

Effects of simulated interventions to improve school entry academic skills on socioeconomic inequalities in educational achievement.

Project description:Randomized controlled trial evidence shows that interventions before age 5 can improve skills necessary for educational success; the effect of these interventions on socioeconomic inequalities is unknown. Using trial effect estimates, and marginal structural models with data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (n = 11,764, imputed), simulated effects of plausible interventions to improve school entry academic skills on socioeconomic inequality in educational achievement at age 16 were examined. Progressive universal interventions (i.e., more intense intervention for those with greater need) to improve school entry academic skills could raise population levels of educational achievement by 5% and reduce absolute socioeconomic inequality in poor educational achievement by 15%.

| S-EPMC4257067 | biostudies-literature

Executive functions as mediators between socioeconomic status and academic performance in Chinese school-aged children.

Project description:BackgroundIt is well-documented that socioeconomic status (SES) and academic performance in school-aged children are closely related. However, little is known about how the three core executive functions (EFs), inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, mediate the association between the two. Moreover, most previous studies examined SES disparities in Western countries, how such disparities in EF and academic performance manifest in the Chinese context, where a distinctive EF profile and learning experience are observed, remains uncertain. The current study explored: (1) the mediating effects of the three core EFs in the association between SES and academic performance; and (2) the differences in EF and academic performance in three core subjects between Chinese children who are below and above the poverty line.MethodsOf the 385 students sampled, 205 are in the low-SES group and 180 are in the middle-high SES group.ResultsA structural equation model showed that the SES-academic performance relationship was fully mediated by cognitive flexibility and working memory but not inhibition. Working memory was a much stronger mediator than cognitive flexibility, suggesting that working memory may correlate with childhood SES and academic performance in Chinese children. An analysis of covariance suggested that compared to the middle-high SES group, the low-SES group demonstrated poorer working memory and academic performance in all three subjects after controlling for age and IQ. Interestingly, children with low-SES were found to have better cognitive flexibility than children with middle-high SES.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that interventions targeting working memory may be an important area to improve children's academic performance.

| S-EPMC9626878 | biostudies-literature

Effects of Extracurricular Participation During Middle School on Academic Motivation and Achievement at Grade 9.

Project description:We investigated the effect of participating in two domains of extracurricular activities (sports and performance arts/clubs) in Grades 7 and 8 on Grade 9 academic motivation and letter grades, above baseline performance. Participants were 483 students (55% male; 33% Euro-American, 25% African American, and 39% Latino). Propensity score weighting controlled for potential confounders in all analyses. Delayed (Grade 8 only) and continuous participation (Grades 7 and 8) in sports predicted competence beliefs and valuing education; delayed and continuous participation in performance arts/clubs predicted teacher-rated engagement and letter grades. Benefits of participation were similar across gender and ethnicity; however, Latino youth were least likely to participate in extracurricular activities. Implications for reducing ethnic and income disparities in educational attainment are discussed.

| S-EPMC6205243 | biostudies-literature

Disentangling the relationship between children's motor ability, executive function and academic achievement.

Project description:Even though positive relations between children's motor ability and their academic achievement are frequently reported, the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. Executive function has indeed been proposed, but hardly tested as a potential mediator. The aim of the present study was therefore to examine the mediating role of executive function in the relationship between motor ability and academic achievement, also investigating the individual contribution of specific motor abilities to the hypothesized mediated linkage to academic achievement. At intervals of ten weeks, 236 children aged between 10 and 12 years were tested in terms of their motor ability (t1: cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, motor coordination), core executive functions (t2: updating, inhibition, shifting), and academic achievement (t3: mathematics, reading, spelling). Structural equation modelling revealed executive function to be a mediator in the relation between motor ability and academic achievement, represented by a significant indirect effect. In separate analyses, each of the three motor abilities were positively related to children's academic achievement. However, only in the case of children's motor coordination, the mediation by executive function accounted for a significance percentage of variance of academic achievement data. The results provide evidence in support of models that conceive executive function as a mechanism explaining the relationship that links children's physical activity-related outcomes to academic achievement and strengthen the advocacy for quality physical activity not merely focused on health-related physical fitness outcomes, but also on motor skill development and learning.

| S-EPMC5560562 | biostudies-literature

Cluster (school) RCT of ParentCorps: impact on kindergarten academic achievement.

Project description:ObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of an early childhood, family-centered, school-based intervention on children's kindergarten academic achievement.MethodsThis was a cluster (school) randomized controlled trial with assessments from pre-kindergarten (pre-k) entry through the end of kindergarten. The setting was 10 public elementary schools with 26 pre-k classes in 2 school districts in urban disadvantaged neighborhoods serving a largely black, low-income population. Participants were 1050 black and Latino, low-income children (age 4; 88% of pre-k population) enrolled in 10 schools over 4 years. Universal intervention aimed to promote self-regulation and early learning by strengthening positive behavior support and effective behavior management at home and school, and increasing parent involvement in education. Intervention included after-school group sessions for families of pre-k students (13 2-hour sessions; co-led by pre-k teachers) and professional development for pre-k and kindergarten teachers. The outcome measures were standardized test scores of kindergarten reading, writing, and math achievement by independent evaluators masked to intervention condition (primary outcome); developmental trajectories of teacher-rated academic performance from pre-k through kindergarten (secondary outcome).ResultsRelative to children in control schools, children in intervention schools had higher kindergarten achievement test scores (Cohen's d = 0.18, mean difference = 2.64, SE = 0.90, P = .03) and higher teacher-rated academic performance (Cohen's d = 0.25, mean difference = 5.65, SE = 2.34, P = .01).ConclusionsEarly childhood population-level intervention that enhances both home and school environments shows promise to advance academic achievement among minority children from disadvantaged, urban neighborhoods.

| S-EPMC3639460 | biostudies-literature

Physical fitness and executive functions in adolescents: cross-sectional associations with academic achievement.

Project description:[Purpose] This study analyzed the relationship between fitness and executive functions in adolescents and its influence on academic achievement. [Participants and Methods] The design was cross-sectional. The sample included 713 adolescents (14.2 ± 1.5 years old). Physical fitness was evaluated using flexibility test, strength test, balance test and aerobic test. Executive function was evaluated with the tests (Stroop, Symbol digit, Trail making, Wechsler memory, and MESSY scale). Academic performance was evaluated through the school records. A partial correlational analysis of physical fitness and executive functions with respect to academic achievement was carried out. A multivariate linear regression was performed to identify the physical component model that best defined each of the executive functions. [Results] The analysis showed how academic achievement is significantly influenced, from a physical point of view, by resistance strength (r=0.21), aerobic endurance (r=0.188), and flexibility (r=0.17), whereas from a cognitive point of view it is significantly influenced by inhibition/interference (r=0.25), working memory (r=0.10) and processing speed (r=0.18). [Conclusion] The results indicate that the physical fitness and executive function are closely related and both have a significant influence on academic achievement.

| S-EPMC6642897 | biostudies-literature

The impact of early behavior disturbances on academic achievement in high school.

Project description:Previous research has indicated that childhood behavioral disturbances predict lower scores on academic tests and curtail educational attainment. It is unknown which types of childhood behavioral problems are most likely to predict these outcomes.An ethnically diverse cohort was assessed at 6 years of age for behavioral problems and IQ and at 17 years of age for academic achievement in math and reading. Of the original cohort of 823 children, 693 (84%) had complete data. Multiple regressions were used to estimate associations of attention and internalizing and externalizing problems at age 6 and with math and reading achievement at age 17, adjusting for IQ and indicators of family socioeconomic status.Adjusting for IQ, inner-city community, and maternal education and marital status, teacher ratings of attention, internalizing behavior, and externalizing problems at age 6 significantly predict math and reading achievement at age 17. When types of problems are examined simultaneously, attention problems predict math and reading achievement with little attenuation, whereas the influence of externalizing and internalizing problems is materially reduced and not significant.Interventions that target attention problems at school entry should be tested as a potential avenue for improving educational achievement.

| S-EPMC2778327 | biostudies-other

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

OmicsDI is an Elixir interoperability service. Learn more ›

Tweets

OmicsDI Databases

PRIDE
PeptideAtlas
MassIVE
JPOST Repository
Physiome Model Repository

EGA
EVA
ENA
LINCS
PAXDB
Cell Collective

MetaboLights
Metabolomics Workbench
MetabolomeExpress
GNPS
BioModels
FAIRDOMHub

ArrayExpress
dbGaP
ExpressionAtlas
GEO
NODE

Information

Databases
Help
API
Contact us
Code on GitHub
Terms of use
Submit Data