Predictors of early growth in academic achievement: the head-toes-knees-shoulders task

TLDR

Children’s behavioral self‑regulation and executive function—including attentional flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control—are strong predictors of academic achievement. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Head‑Toes‑Knees‑Shoulders (HTKS) task, evaluating its construct validity with EF measures and its predictive validity for achievement growth from prekindergarten to kindergarten. In fall and spring of prekindergarten and kindergarten, 208 children (51 % in Head Start) completed the HTKS, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control tests, along with emergent literacy, mathematics, and vocabulary assessments. HTKS scores were significantly related to EF components and predicted growth in mathematics in prekindergarten and in all academic outcomes in kindergarten, with fixed‑effects analysis confirming that both HTKS and EF measures forecasted mathematics growth across four time points, underscoring HTKS’s strong link to early achievement, especially kindergarten math.

Abstract

Children’s 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.