Predicting GPAs with Executive Functioning Assessed by Teachers and by Adolescents Themselves

William Ellery Samuels,Joann Sacks,Stanley Sacks,Christopher Zilinski,Nelly Tournaki,Sheldon Blackman,Kenneth Byalin

doi:10.31757/euer.232

Abstract

Executive functions (EFs) show promise as important mediators of adolescent academic performance. However, the expense of measuring EFs accurately has restricted most field-based research on them to smaller, non-longitudinal studies of homogeneous populations with specific diagnoses. We therefore monitored the development of 259 diverse, at-risk students’ EFs as they progressed from 6th through 12th grade. Teachers completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) for a random subset of their students. At that same time, those same students completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Self Report (BRIEF-SR) about themselves; teachers generally reported stronger EFs in students than students reported in themselves. Results further indicated that both BRIEF and BRIEF-SR Global Executive Composite (GEC) scores—measures of overall executive functioning—significantly predicted overall GPAs more than was already predicted by students’ gender, IEP status, and eligibility for free/reduced school lunch. BRIEF (teacher) scores were better predictors and contributed more to predictive accuracy than the BRIEF-SR (student) scores; BRIEF scores even added additional predictiveness to a model already containing BRIEF-SR scores, while the reverse did not hold. This study provides evidence for valid use of BRIEF and BRIEF-SR GEC scores to predict middle and high school GPAs, thereby supporting practitioners use for this purpose within similar, diverse, at-risk populations. The study also illuminates some of the EF development for this population during adolescence.

Highlights

Executive Functions (EFs) can be generally defined as a set of cognitive and behavioral control processes that individuals use to regulate and direct attention, memory, thoughts, emotional reactions, and behaviors so that they may attain both short- and long-term goals (Best & Miller, 2010; Diamond & Lee, 2011; Blair & Raver, 2012)
One of the goals of the present study is to investigate the relationship of Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and BRIEF-SR in predicting academic performance, comparing them against each other and conducting an initial foray initial to the role of selfmonitoring on the predictive aspects of the BRIEFSR’s validity here
When we considered the role of Executive functions (EFs)-related behaviors, we found that they made a very strong contribution to our predictions of grade point averages (GPAs) beyond that made by both gender and Individualized Education Program (IEP) status—regardless of whether the frequency of EF-related behaviors were reported by a student’s teacher or by the student her/himself

Summary

Introduction

Executive Functions (EFs) can be generally defined as a set of cognitive and behavioral control processes that individuals use to regulate and direct attention, memory, thoughts, emotional reactions, and behaviors so that they may attain both short- and long-term goals (Best & Miller, 2010; Diamond & Lee, 2011; Blair & Raver, 2012). This ability to direct one’s attention and behavior towards meeting a goal is necessary to complete most academic tasks. EFs continue to develop throughout adolescence or even early adulthood (Best, Miller, & Jones, 2009; Best & Miller, 2010; Best et al, 2011), and the etiology of their development during adolescence—and their ability to predict academic outcomes during this period—remain poorly understood (Ahmed, Tang, Waters, & Davis-Kean, 2018; Conklin, Luciana, Hooper, & Yarger, 2007)

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