Clancy Blair, PhD Department of Applied Psychology

1. Promoting the Development of School Readiness and Self-Regulation in Children: Emotion, Attention, and Executive Functions Clancy Blair, PhD Department of Applied Psychology Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development New York University http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/appsych/phd/psychological_development Departments of Psychology and Human Ecology and the Community‐University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families at the University of Alberta January 22, 2013

2. The Science of Early Childhood • Effects of experience on children’s development • parenting and family • neighborhoods, schools, communities • The way in which the context in which child development takes places shapes children’s psychological and biological development

4. Poverty/Income inequality is rising Reardon, S. (2011). The widening academic achievement gap between the rich and the poor. In Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances

5. Disparity in educational outcomes associated with income inequality is growing Reardon, S. (2011). The widening academic achievement gap between the rich and the poor. In Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances

6. Troubling Indicators (U.S.) • Kindergarten teacher survey on readiness • Preschool expulsion • Increase psychotropic medication use under age 5

7. School Readiness • To what extent are poverty related effects on school readiness and achievement attributable to effects on self-regulation as opposed to knowledge base? • Complementary but distinct approaches

8. Questions • Is self-regulation more (or less) important for later achievement than early academic ability? • Differentiation from general cognitive ability? • Is early math ability better predictor? • Framing the question frames the analysis • Not “either-or” but process and measurement • How does self-regulation/executive function in early childhood contribute to early and later academic ability

9. Prediction of Math in Kindergarten β β *p < .05, **p < .01 Blair & Razza (2007). Child Development

10. Prediction of Math in Kindergarten Welsh et al. (2010). Journal of Educational Psychology

11. Math and EF – from preK to K Welsh et al. (2010). Journal of Educational Psychology

12. Growth model • Predicting growth in math ability preK to second grade from self-regulation measured in preK controlling for demographic covariates and cognitive ability measured in preK

13. Growth in Math Ability

14. Growth Model

15. Executive function moderates math preK to K

16. Self-Regulation and School Outcomes Executive Functions Social-Emotional Competence • Blair & Razza (2007). Child Development • Bull & Scerif (2001). Developmental Neuropsychology • Espy, McDiarmid, Cwik, et al. (2004). Developmental Neuropsychology • McClelland, Cameron, Connor, et al. (2007). Developmental Psychology • Bull, Espy, Wiebe, Sheffield, & Nelson (2011) Developmental Science • Gathercole & Pickering (2000). Br Journal of Ed Psych • Brock, Rimm-Kaufmann, et al. (2009). Early Childhood Research Quarterly • Kochanska, Murray, & Harlan (2000). Developmental Psychology • Ponitz, McClelland, Matthews & Morrison (2009) Developmental Psychology • Rhoades, Greenberg, & Domitrovich (2009). Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology • Raver (2002). SRCD Social Policy Report • Rimm-Kaufmann, Curby, Grimm et al. (2009) Developmental Psychology

17. Executive Functions and School Readiness • Limited experimental data available • Educational interventions • Chicago School Readiness Project – Raver, Jones, Li-Grining et al. (2011) Child Development • Project REDI – Bierman, Nix, Greenberg, et al. (2008). Development and Psychopathology • These studies demonstrated some mediation of effects on school readiness through effects on executive functions • No studies have directly addressed enhancement of executive functions as a means to promote school readiness • Tools of the Mind • Diamond et al. (2007) Science • Trials currently in TN/NC, NYC/Tampa FL, and MA

18. Chicago School Readiness Project • Teacher training and coaching by a mental health consultant to improve the emotional climate of the classroom, lower children’s level of conflict with peers, and lower teacher stress • Changing the climate should reduce self-regulation challenges for children and teachers, increase attention focus and executive function, and increase learning outcomes

19. CSRP: Impacts on Children’s Self-Regulation and Pre-Academic Skills SOURCE: Raver, Jones, Li-Grining, Zhai, Bub, & Pressler, 2008 NOTES: Significance levels are indicated as * p < 0.10; ** p < 0.05; *** p < 0.01.

20. CSRP Mediation Raver et al. (2011). Child Development.

21. Tools of the Mind Program based on the work of Lev Vygotsky developed by Deborah Leong and Elena Bodrova Designed to impact both self-regulation and to teach content skills in literacy and mathematics An approach to teaching children that changes the way children learn

23. Tools of the Mind, EF, and academic ability from Diamond et al. (2007). Science

24. Tools of the Mind Kindergarten • 79 kindergarten classrooms in 29 schools in MA • Cluster RCT • Data collection in fall and spring of K and fall of first grade • Measures of math, reading, vocabulary, executive function, control of attention, speed of processing, stress physiology

25. Make-Believe Play Mature Make Believe Play: • Deep engagement • Planned in advance • Roles with rules • Scenarios that change and adapt • Symbolic props • Language used to plan the play

26. Children Plan Their Play in PreK

27. Learning Plan in Kindergarten • Children play games based on fictional narratives • Children follow a learning plan, complete a work product, and set learning goals

28. Play based on fictional narrative

29. Cognitive Self-Regulation • Children act as a checker for another child, practicing a version of “reflection on action”

30. Effects of Tools K on CLASS organization

31. Effects of Tools K

32. Effects on reading growth Fall K Spring K First grade

33. Conclusions • Early promise of model preK programs (Perry, Abecedarian) without clear mechanism • Self-regulation development from the prenatal period through school entry might be one relevant lever through which to counteract effects of poverty • Opportunities for measurement and partnership with schools on questions relating to educational effectiveness • Opportunity for meaningful advancement of the science of learning and promotion of educational opportunity

34. Collaborators and Funders Penn State University Mark Greenberg, PhD Doug Granger, PhD Cynthia Stifter, PhD Leah Hibel, PhD Katie Kivlighan, PhD Kristine Voegtline, PhD UNC Chapel Hill Lynne Vernon-Feagans, PhD Martha Cox, PhD Margaret Burchinal, PhD Mike Willoughby, PhD Patricia Garrett-Peters, PhD Roger Mills-Koonce, PhD Eloise Neebe, MA Laura Kuhn, MA New York University Cybele Raver, PhD, Daniel Berry, PhD Alexandra Ursache, MA Eric Finegood Alyssa Pintar Rachel McKinnon Tools of the Mind Deborah Leong, PhD, Elena Bodrova, PhD Amy Hornbeck Barbara Wilder-Smith Funding National Institute of Child Health and Human Development R03 HD39750 , P01 HD39667, R01 HD51502 (ARRA) Institute of Education Sciences R305A100058