Self-regulation and academic achievement in the transition to school.

Abstract

Understanding of children's cognitive and social development has advanced significantly over the past 3 decades. Particularly with regard to those skills critical for academic success, research has revealed that multiple interacting factors in the child, home, school, and larger sociocultural context all contribute to children's literacy, numeracy, language, and social skills, starting early in life and continuing throughout the school years (Morrison, Bachman, & Connor, 2005). One factor, self-regulation, has surfaced recently as a crucial skill that uniquely predicts children's early school success. Poor self-regulation has been linked to high rates of expulsion, most dramatically in preschool classrooms (Gilliam & Shahar, 2006). Self-regulation refers to a complex of acquired, intentional skills involved in controlling, directing, and planning one's cognitions, emotions, and behaviot (Schunk & Zimmerman, 1997). In investigations beyond the class-