The Development of Executive Function Among Socio-demographically Diverse Children: The Role of Teacher-Child Relationships

Educational policymakers and scholars are devoting greater attention to young children’s executive function (EF), which provides a foundation for their social-emotional development and content-specific learning. Dr. Reid will be investigating differences in the trajectories of the development of EF skills among socio-demographically diverse children, and the extent to which any disparities among them are associated with children’s relationships with their teachers. Positive teacher-child relationships provide an important platform for EF development, and yet little is known about how the strength of these relationships may differentially relate to the EF development of socio-demographically diverse children. Using a nationally representative sample of children followed from kindergarten thru second grade, the analysis will help address this gap by examining how the quality of teacher-child-relationships is associated with EF development among diverse subgroups of children and the extent to which teacher-child match in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, and primary home language may moderate any associations between teacher-child relationships and EF gains. The results will inform policymakers who seek to promote children’s social and academic growth in kindergarten and elementary school, providers of professional learning opportunities who aim to foster effective teaching practices with socio-demographically diverse children, and researchers who seek to conduct experimental research on ways to promote EF skills.,