Does preschool children’s self-regulation moderate the impacts of instructional activities? Evidence from a randomized intervention study

Abstract

There is strong evidence linking children’s self-regulation with their academic and behavioral outcomes. These relations have led to the development of interventions aimed at improving academic outcomes by promoting self-regulation, based in part on the idea that self-regulation promotes the development of academic skills. Although a considerable number of studies have examined the degree to which interventions designed to improve aspects of self-regulation have a positive impact on academic outcomes, only a few studies have examined the degree to which children’s self-regulation moderates the effects of academic interventions. The goal of this study was to examine whether self-regulation, indexed by a direct assessment of executive function and teacher-rated attention, moderated the uptake of early literacy interventions for 184 children (average age = 58 months, SD = 3.38; 66% Black/African American, 28% White; 59% male) at risk for reading difficulties who participated in a randomized controlled trial examining the efficacy of Tier 2 interventions in preschool. Multilevel models were used to examine the degree to which children’s self-regulation moderated the impacts of the interventions. The results of this study provided little evidence that self-regulation moderated the impacts of the interventions and call into question the likelihood of a causal relation between self-regulation and academic achievement.