Executive Function and Academic Achievement: Longitudinal Relations From Early Childhood to Adolescence

Data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (N = 1273) were analyzed to assess the longitudinal relations among executive function (EF) components in early childhood (54 months) and adolescence (15 years) and their prediction of academic achievement. We found that after controlling for early achievement, demographic, and home environment variables, only working memory at 54 months significantly predicted working memory at 15 years and that working memory was the only significant EF predictor of achievement at age 15. In contrast, all early achievement measures were significant predictors of later achievement. Furthermore, no demographic or home environment variables at 54 months significantly predicted EF at 15, and only maternal education significantly explained variance in adolescent math and literacy achievement. These findings demonstrate the predictability of working memory and highlight its importance for academic outcomes across development. However, the lack of associations of preschool inhibition and attention measures, after controlling for early achievement, demographic, and home environment variables, to corresponding measures in adolescence suggests the need for more developmentally sensitive measures of EF. Given that the EF measures used in this study are commonly used in educational and psychological research, more care should go into understanding the psychometric properties across development. Educational Impact and Implications Statement The results from the current study show that preschool working memory is related to working memory and math and reading achievement at age 15. These findings represent our ability to predict adolescent cognition and academic achievement from a single measurement as early as 54 months, and indicate that measures of working memory during preschool and adolescence are tapping into a similar ability. However, attention and self-regulation in preschool were not related to attention, self-regulation, or academic achievement during adolescence. Given that the attention and self-regulation measures in this study are commonly used in educational and psychological research and practice, more care should go into understanding how these abilities change over time, and how to accurately measure them over a wide range of years. This will aid educational practitioners and researchers in assessing early self-regulation skills with measures that are valid and predictive.