2008 — 2013 |
Gewirtz, Abigail (co-PI) [⬀] Long, Jeffrey Masten, Ann [⬀] Gunnar, Megan (co-PI) [⬀] Zelazo, Philip |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Executive Function in Learning and School Success @ University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Faced with persisting disparities in educational achievement, there is a pressing need to understand processes that promote early school success in children at risk for academic problems. Promising evidence indicates that executive function (EF) skills play a central role in successful transitions to school among young children, especially disadvantaged children. EF skills are those involved in cognitive self-control of behavior, including directing and shifting attention, resisting distractions, and inhibiting impulses. Children with good EF skills fare better in the school context, both in terms of learning and social competence. There is also evidence that EF can be improved through strategic intervention. This project will examine the role of EF skills in the school success of young homeless/highly mobile students who represent a substantial proportion of the low-income children at highest risk for academic problems in urban school districts. Chronic adversities associated with poverty and mobility may alter physiological stress response systems and undermine the early development of neural systems associated with EF. As a result, children may face the challenges of school and life with poor EF skills, as well as difficulties regulating stress. Nonetheless, some children growing up in adversity succeed in school, and their resilience may be related to protections afforded by good parenting and the development of effective stress regulation and EF skills. To examine the role of EF in school success among homeless/highly mobile children, this study will assess children entering kindergarten from shelters for homeless families and follow their adjustment during this important school year. Through assessments of child, parent, and parent-child interactions, this study will test the connections of family adversity, risk, and parenting to EF skills, stress regulation, and success in school. Cortisol, a stress hormone, will be sampled from the children's saliva to assess stress reactivity. School outcomes will be assessed through teacher reports and school records of standardized tests and attendance. Better EF skills are expected in children with lower family risk, better parenting, and good stress regulation, who consequently will do well in school. EF skills are expected to show protective effects for learning and social adjustment in these high-risk children.
Results are expected to inform developmental theory on EF, risk and resilience, and the design of educational programs and interventions to address achievement disparities and promote early school success in disadvantaged children. The project will provide insights into processes that may enhance or inhibit learning and adaptation in a context of high adversity and change. Results will elucidate how EF skills may facilitate successful transitions to school in an under-studied population of low-income, highly mobile children whose success may prove crucial to closing achievement gaps in American education.
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