Performance on lab assessments of executive functions predicts academic achievement and other positive life outcomes. A primary goal of research on executive functions has been to design interventions that improve outcomes like academic achievement by improving executive functions. These interventions typically involve extensive practice on…

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…

Executive function (EF) predicts children's academic achievement; however, less is known about the relation between EF and the actual learning process. Furthermore, more research is needed to better understand how different aspects of the learning environment interact with EF to influence learning. The current dissertation includes two studies to…

Individual differences in executive functions (EF) are heritable and predictive of academic attainment (AA). However, little is known about genetic contributions to EFs or their genetic relationship with AA and intelligence. We conducted genome-wide association analyses for processing speed (PS) and the latent EF measures of working memory (WM)…

The present investigation examined the benefits of pre-K through the end of kindergarten for children from low-income homes who lived in a large and diverse county (n = 2,581) as well as factors associated with a reduction in benefits during the kindergarten year. Results revealed that pre-K graduates outperformed nonattenders in the areas of…

The present investigation examined the benefits of pre-K through the end of kindergarten for children from low-income homes who lived in a large and diverse county (n = 2,581) as well as factors associated with a reduction in benefits during the kindergarten year. Results revealed that pre-K graduates outperformed non-attenders in the areas of…

Children's preparedness for school is an important predictor of their eventual academic attainment, health, and personal success well into adulthood. Although kindergarten knowledge of numbers and vocabulary represent robust indicators of children's readiness to learn at school entry, theory and research suggest that self-directed learning skills…

In the present study, associations between executive functioning, metacognition, and self-perceived competence in the context of early academic outcomes were examined. A total of 209 children attending first grade were initially assessed in terms of their executive functioning and academic self-concept. One year later, children's executive…