Executive Functions at School Entry: Evidence from a Nationally Representative Study of Kindergartners

Background and Purpose: Ensuring that children are ready for a successful school experience is an important issue for social work, and early childhood policy and practice. Important factors associated with success in school are executive functions (e.g., attention, impulse control, memory, etc.). Yet, little is known about the executive functions of large, diverse groups of children across the United States at school entry.  

To address this gap, we used nationally, representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K: 2011). We examined children’s executive functions at school entry, and associations with various sociodemographic factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. We also examined associations with factors such as immigrant status, primary home language, low birth weight, and time in kindergarten. 

Methods: We used data from the first two waves of data collection of the ECLS-K: 2011, administered in the fall of 2010 and spring 2011, for children who had complete executive function data (N=13,850). The current sample included 49.5% girls, and 52.8% White, 23.8% Hispanic 13.5% Black, 3.9% Asian, and 5.9% other race/ethnicity. Executive functions were measured using the Dimensional Card Change Sorting Task (Zelazo, 2006), and the Numbers Reversed subtest of the Woodcock-Johnson III Test of Cognitive Abilities (Woodcock et al., 2001).

Parent interviews at fall 2010 were used to measure the following: child gender, age at assessment, time in kindergarten at assessment, race/ethnicity, low birth weight, parent education, parent immigration status, family type, poverty status, and primary home language.

Results: Findings demonstrated advantages in executive functions for girls, older children, children who have spent more time in kindergarten, and children with normal versus low birth weight. Compared to white children, African American and Hispanic children performed less well and Asian children performed better on executive functions involving memory. The largest disparities, however, were associated with high parental education and family income.  Children of parents with higher education and income performed significantly better than those with lower education and income. No differences were found between children in single and two parent families, and children with immigrant and native-born parents. Children with a primary home language other than English performed significantly less well than children with a primary home language of English or English plus a second language.

Conclusions and Implications: The results provide a first examination on large-scale of children’s executive function skills at school entry, and associated factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Implications for social work and early childhood policy and practice will be discussed.