Ryan P. Bowles

Predictors of Early Growth in Academic Achievement: The Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders Task.

Childrens behavioral self-regulation and executive function (EF; including attentional or cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control) are strong predictors of academic achievement. The present study examined the psychometric properties of a measure of behavioral self-regulation called the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) by assessing construct validity, including relations to EF measures, and predictive validity to academic achievement growth between prekindergarten and kindergarten. In the fall and spring of prekindergarten and kindergarten, 208 children (51% enrolled in Head Start) were assessed on the HTKS, measures of cognitive flexibility, working memory (WM), and inhibitory control, and measures of emergent literacy, mathematics, and vocabulary. For construct validity, the HTKS was significantly related to cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control in prekindergarten and kindergarten. For predictive validity in prekindergarten, a random effects model indicated that the HTKS significantly predicted growth in mathematics, whereas a cognitive flexibility task significantly predicted growth in mathematics and vocabulary. In kindergarten, the HTKS was the only measure to significantly predict growth in all academic outcomes. An alternative conservative analytical approach, a fixed effects analysis (FEA) model, also indicated that growth in both the HTKS and measures of EF significantly predicted growth in mathematics over four time points between prekindergarten and kindergarten. Results demonstrate that the HTKS involves cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control, and is substantively implicated in early achievement, with the strongest relations found for growth in achievement during kindergarten and associations with emergent mathematics.

Modeling Life-Span Growth Curves of Cognition Using Longitudinal Data with Multiple Samples and Changing Scales of Measurement.

The authors use multiple-sample longitudinal data from different test batteries to examine propositions about changes in constructs over the life span. The data come from 3 classic studies on intellectual abilities in which, in combination, 441 persons were repeatedly measured as many as 16 times over 70 years. They measured cognitive constructs of vocabulary and memory using 8 age-appropriate intelligence test batteries and explore possible linkage of these scales using item response theory (IRT). They simultaneously estimated the parameters of both IRT and latent curve models based on a joint model likelihood approach (i.e., NLMIXED and WINBUGS). They included group differences in the model to examine potential interindividual differences in levels and change. The resulting longitudinal invariant Rasch test analyses lead to a few new methodological suggestions for dealing with repeated constructs based on changing measurements in developmental studies.

Educators' Use of Cognitively Challenging Questions in Economically Disadvantaged Preschool Classroom Contexts

Research Findings: This study investigated the complexity of teacher questions in 14 preschool classrooms serving economically disadvantaged 4-year-olds. The purposes were to explore the frequency and complexity of teacher questions and to determine the extent to which question types varied for different classroom contexts. Using teacher utterances from 24-min transcripts of videotaped classroom observations, we used a logistic regression framework to determine the frequency of teacher questioning and the extent to which this related to classroom context. Results indicated that questions characterized 33.5% of all teacher utterances, with management questions occurring most frequently (44.8%), followed by more cognitively challenging questions (32.5%) and less cognitively challenging questions (22.7%). The frequency of use for the different question types varied by classroom context; specifically, management questioning occurred most frequently in teacher-directed and child-directed contexts, whereas more cognitively challenging questions occurred most frequently during shared storybook reading. Practice or Policy: This study has implications for the professional development of early childhood educators, particularly with respect to the use of questions as a language stimulation technique for preschoolers at risk for language- and literacy-related difficulties.

Assessing the Age-Related Effects of Proactive Interference on Working Memory Tasks Using the Rasch Model

Inhibition-reduction theory (L. Hasher & R. Zacks, 1988) hypothesizes that the age-related decline in working memory (WM) span is a result of a decrease in the ability to inhibit irrelevant information in WM. Using the Rasch psychometric model, this study found that later trials on 2 WM span tasks were more difficult for older adults than for younger adults, consistent with inhibition-reduction theorys hypothesis that older adults are more susceptible to the effects of proactive interference (PI). Furthermore, after accounting for differential susceptibility to the effects of PI, age-related variance in WM span was reduced by about half. These results suggest that differential susceptibility to PI may account for a substantial portion, although not all, of the age-related decline in WM span.

School readiness among children with varying histories of language difficulties.

This study tested the hypotheses that (a) persistent language difficulties during childhood would predict lower school readiness and (b) language difficulties present just prior to school entry would predict lower school readiness beyond any effects of persistence. The study involved examining indicators of school readiness collected at kindergarten for children exhibiting various histories of language ability based on language measures collected at 15, 24, 36, and 54 months by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Developments Early Child Care Research Network. Children (N = 1,064) were classified according to whether they exhibited expressive or receptive language difficulties at each time point measured. The relation between persistence and timing of these difficulties to each kindergarten outcome was studied through a common factor approach for categorical outcomes. Persistence of language difficulties was not generally related to kindergarten outcomes. However, a robust effect was found for timing of language difficulties: Children who exhibited language difficulties at 54 months exhibited significantly depressed performance on measures of school readiness. Findings are discussed in terms of current policy and research concerning kindergarten readiness for children exhibiting risk.

Vocabulary test format and differential relations to age.

Although vocabulary tests are generally considered interchangeable, regardless of format, different tests can have different relations to age and to other cognitive abilities. In this study, 4 vocabulary test formats were examined: multiple-choice synonyms, multiple-choice antonyms, produce the definition, and picture identification. Results indicated that, although they form a single coherent vocabulary knowledge factor, the formats have different relations to age. In earlier adulthood, picture identification had the strongest growth, and produce the definition had the weakest. In later adulthood, picture identification had the strongest decline, and multiple-choice synonyms had the least. The formats differed in their relation to other cognitive variables, including reasoning, spatial visualization, memory, and speed. After accounting for the differential relations to other cognitive variables, differences in relation to age were eliminated with the exception of differences for the picture identification test. No theory of the aging of vocabulary knowledge fully explains these findings. These results suggest that using a single indicator of vocabulary may yield incomplete and somewhat misleading results about the aging of vocabulary knowledge.

A monte carlo simulation study of the reliability of intraindividual variability

Recent research has seen intraindividual variability become a useful technique to incorporate trial-to-trial variability into many types of psychological studies. Intraindividual variability, as measured by individual standard deviations (ISDs), has shown unique prediction to several types of positive and negative outcomes (Ram, Rabbit, Stollery, & Nesselroade, 2005). One unanswered question regarding measuring intraindividual variability is its reliability and the conditions under which optimal reliability is achieved. Monte Carlo simulation studies were conducted to determine the reliability of the ISD as compared with the intraindividual mean. The results indicate that ISDs generally have poor reliability and are sensitive to insufficient measurement occasions, poor test reliability, and unfavorable amounts and distributions of variability in the population. Secondary analysis of psychological data shows that use of individual standard deviations in unfavorable conditions leads to a marked reduction in statistical power, although careful adherence to underlying statistical assumptions allows their use as a basic research tool.

Child and Home Predictors of Children's Name Writing

The current study used dominance analysis to investigate the relative importance of multiple factors on childrens (ages 3–5; mean age of 47.3 months) name writing skill when they enter preschool. Children () were tested individually at the beginning of preschool on six factors thought to be important for name writing success: letter knowledge, decoding, motor skills, problem behaviors, self-regulation, and home literacy environment. Collectively, these variables explained 37.1% of the variation in childrens name writing, but the importance of each factor differed widely. Children’s knowledge of capital letters (11.8%) and their motor development (11.8%) were the most important for children’s name writing whereas the home learning environment (2.3%) and reported problem behaviors (1.5%) were the least important factors. These findings suggest that researchers and teachers should focus on letter knowledge and motor development in understanding and promoting children’s name writing skills.

The Development of Achievement Goals Throughout College Modeling Stability and Change

Emerging adulthood, defined for many by the college years, is an active period of personality development; less is known about goal change during these years. We investigated stability and change in the 2 × 2 model of achievement goals over 4 years (N = 527). We evaluated rank-order stability and mean-level change, and tested goal coupling hypotheses—the idea that early changes in goals predict later change in other goals—using multivariate latent difference score models. Achievement goals showed moderate rank-order stability over 4 years. Three of four goals demonstrated small normative declines, excepting performance approach goals. A change in mastery approach goals was associated with levels of the other three goals; these goals jointly acted to slow the decline of mastery goals. Trajectories for the other three goals were largely independent. Results suggest that goals are relatively stable individual differences during the college years.

Literacy growth in the academic year versus summer from preschool through second grade: Differential effects of schooling across four skills

Differences in literacy growth over the summer versus the school year were examined to isolate how schooling affects childrens literacy development from preschool through second grade across four literacy skills. Children (n = 383) were tested individually twice each year for up to 4 years on measures of phonological awareness, decoding, reading comprehension, and vocabulary. Growth curve analyses indicated that schooling effects were greatest for decoding skills and reading comprehension, were medium in size for phonological awareness, and were less evident for vocabulary. Except for vocabulary, relatively small amounts of growth were observed for preschoolers, followed by a period of rapid growth for kindergarteners and first graders, which slowed again for second graders. Findings demonstrate the differential effect of schooling on four separate literacy skills during the crucial school transition period.