Project Activities
Researchers developed and refined a new set of items that targeted children's emerging executive function skills, conducted studies to examine the validity and reliability of the measure, and evaluated the HTKS-R as a predictor of children's school readiness in prekindergarten and kindergarten. The team conducted analyses to examine the psychometric properties of the measure.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The study took place in Head Start programs in Oregon.
Sample
The research team recruited 590 children (52 percent female; 18 percent Spanish-speaking) from 92 preschool classrooms in the Pacific Northwest over 3 years. Participation
The Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS-R) measure is a direct assessment of children's executive function skills. Children are asked to complete a series of tasks/physical actions that require them to integrate multiple cognitive skills: (1) paying attention to the instructions; (2) using working memory to remember and execute new rules while processing the commands; (3) using inhibitory control to inhibit their natural response to the test command while initiating the correct, unnatural response; and (4) using attentional or cognitive flexibility when rules change in the assessment protocol. The HTKS-R includes a new section with test items that are designed to lessen the cognitive flexibility and motor skills demands for younger children and children who struggle with executive function.
Research design and methods
In Years 1–3 of the study, the researchers included teachers in the iterative development and refinement process. Teachers pilot tested the administration protocol and test items and provide feedback about the usability and feasibility of the assessment tool. In Year 1, the research team developed and refined new test items and conducted an initial field test with 272 children (Cohort 1). Researchers refined the tasks and the mobile app based on analyses of year 1 data and teacher feedback. In Years 2 and 3, the research team refined and validated the revised measure with a new sample of 318 children (Cohorts 2 and 3). The research team followed these children into kindergarten. Children in cohorts 2 and 3 were assessed in prekindergarten and kindergarten. Researchers used data from Cohorts 2 and 3 to examine the validity and reliability of the revised measure. In Year 4, the team examined the predictive validity of the measure and finalize scoring procedures, continuation rules, administration instructions, and the mobile app.
Control condition
There is no control condition in this study.
Key measures
Measures included direct assessments of children's executive function skills including the HTKS-R, the Dimensional Change Card Sort (cognitive flexibility), the Day-Night Stroop test (inhibitory control), the Woodcock-Johnson III Auditory Working Memory, Letter-Word Identification, Picture Vocabulary, and Applied Problems subtests, and the PreLAS preschool language screener. The research team also asked teachers and assessors to rate children's self-regulation skills.
Data analytic strategy
Researchers conducted item and scale level analyses to examine the psychometric properties of the revised measure. The research team also examined the feasibility of adding new sections to the HTKS-R task, assess the ordering of sections, examine scoring practice items in the new measure, and establish cut points to determine when a child should move to a different section. In addition, the research team conducted analyses to evaluate the concurrent and predictive validity of the measure and had teachers administer the measure to children in their classrooms.
Key outcomes
- The project team developed the HTKS-R, a school readiness tool for English- and Spanish-speaking children at-risk for academic difficulties with strong psychometric properties (Gonzales et al.,2021).
- The HTKS-R was found to be a reliable and valid predictor of kindergarten readiness and achievement (McClelland et al., 2021).
- A training website and mobile app were also developed for researchers and teachers to use.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
Project website:
Publications:
Gonzales, C. R., Merculief, A., McClelland, M. M., Ghetti, S. (2022). The development of uncertainty monitoring during kindergarten: Change, and longitudinal relations with executive function and vocabulary in children from low-income backgrounds. Child Development, 93, 524–539. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13714.
Gonzales, C. R., Bowles, R., Geldhof, G. J., Cameron, C. E., Tracy, A., & McClelland, M. M. (2021). The Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders Revised (HTKS-R): Development and psychometric properties of a revision to reduce floor effects. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 56, 320-332. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2021.03.008.
McClelland, M. M., Gonzales, C. R., Cameron, C. E., Geldhof, G. J., Bowles, R. P., Nancarrow, A. F., Merculief, A., & Tracy, A. (2021). The Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders Revised: Links to academic outcomes and measures of EF in young children. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 721846. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.721846.
McClelland, M. M., & Cameron, C. E. (2019). Developing together: The role of executive function and motor skills in children’s early academic lives. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 46, 142-151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.03.014
McClelland, M.M., Tominey, S.L., Schmitt, S.A., and Duncan, R. (2017). SEL Interventions in Early Childhood. The Future of Children, 33–47.
Tua-Karing, J., Tracy, A., Gonzales, C., Nancarrow, A., Tomayko, E., Tominey, S., Escobar, H., & McClelland, M. M. (2021). Breastfeeding, early self-regulation, and academic achievement in kindergarten among disadvantaged children. Maternal and Child Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-021-03193-5.
Related projects
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigator: Bowles, Ryan P.; Cameron, Claire; Geldhof, John
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