Off-Task Behavior as a Measure of In-Classroom Executive Function Skills? Evidence for Construct Validity and Contributions to Gains in Prekindergartners’ Academic Achievement

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: Prior research has demonstrated the importance of young children’s executive functioning (EF) skills for their success in schooling and beyond. However, the field lacks an understanding of how children’s EF skills manifest in context. In the present study, we relate children’s classroom off-task behavior to their EF skills. Prekindergarten children (N=263) were first assessed on their EF skills via direct assessments and a teacher report, and then they were observed on the amount of time spent off-task across classroom contexts like small-group instruction, whole-class instruction, independent work, transitions, and center time. Children’s off-task behavior was weakly correlated with their directly assessed EF skills and moderately correlated with teacher reports of EF. The strength of associations was strongest for children’s off-task behavior during whole-class instruction and transitions. Off-task behavior during whole-class instruction and transitions had the most within-classroom variation compared to other classroom settings, and off-task behavior during transitions most strongly predicted gains in math skills. Practice and Policy: Our study suggests that although direct EF assessments are the most predictive of children’s academic achievement gains, it is beneficial to identify when children are going off-task and when this behavior is driven more by differences between children or classrooms.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the Boston Public Schools, Annie Taylor, Brian Gold, Blaire Horner, the BPS Department of Early Childhood coaches and staff, the BPS Department of Research, the MDRC team (Jennifer Yeaton, Mirjana Pralica, Rama Hagos, Desiree Alderson, Marissa Strassberger and Sharon Huang), the Harvard Graduate School of Education research team (Sibyl Holland, Maia Gokhale, and field-based data collection staff), the University of Michigan research team (Paola Guerrero Rosada, Amanda Weissman, Kehui Zhang, Margaret Michalowski, Christina Daniel, and Sarah Niemann), and Carol Connor for advising our team on the ISI Measure.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. In order ensure internal validity and reliability for the direct child assessments, the research staff participated in a week-long training at the beginning of both the fall of 2016 and spring of 2017. Staff received training on each individual assessment and practiced during the sessions. They then had to give the assessments to an adult role playing as a child, and then they had to assess a student attending a school that was not part of the study sample.

2. Assessments were in a quiet space outside of the classroom. It took approximately 45 minutes per child to administer all child assessments, and each child completed all assessments in one day.

Additional information

Funding

The research reported here was conducted as a part of a study funded by Grant R305N160018 – 17 from the Institute of Education Sciences to MDRC with subcontracts to the University of Michigan, the Boston Public Schools, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Lillie Moffett’s work was further supported by the Institute of Education Sciences Predoctoral Fellowship at the University of Michigan [Grant R305B150012] and the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship [Grant 1650114].