Directly assessed and adult-reported executive functions: Associations with academic skills in Ghana

Extant work on the importance of children's executive function (EF) for academic skills typically employs either direct assessments of EF skills or adult reports of children's EF behaviors. Each approach has advantages, yet few studies have examined how different EF measurement approaches distinctly relate to child outcomes. We examined how direct assessment of EF skills and teacher- and assessor-reports of EF behaviors uniquely predicted literacy and numeracy skills in the Greater Accra region of Ghana (N = 371, average age = 9.3 years). All three EF measures demonstrated significant associations with children's concurrent numeracy and literacy performance. Controlling for previous academic skills, direct assessment of EF skills predicted numeracy, teacher-report of EF behaviors predicted literacy, and assessor-report predicted both. Adapted EF measures uniquely contribute to students' academic skills in a context where educational experiences tend to be teacher-directed and emphasize obedience, suggesting that promoting EF can support learning in Ghana. •Executive function (EF) contributes to primary school academic skills in Ghana.•Directly assessed EF uniquely contributed to change in numeracy skills over time.•Teacher-reported EF uniquely contributed to change in literacy skills over time.•Assessor-reported EF contributed to change in both academic domains over time.