Psychometric properties of the Ani Banani Math Test

This study assessed the psychometric properties of a digital early mathematics assessment, the Ani Banani Math Test (ABMT) in three samples (N1 = 243, N2 = 691, N3 = 1282) in kindergarten and first grade (age range 4.67– 7.30). Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the ABMT appears to measure one general construct of children’s informal mathematics development. MIMIC models showed that all items functioned similarly across age, socioeconomic status, and sex, except for two items which showed a bias towards boys and one item towards girls. The correlations with other mathematics assessments were strong, and significantly stronger than with executive function, working memory, and literacy measures, indicating concurrent and discriminant validity. The task was highly correlated with mathematics achievement five years later, indicating high predictive validity. Taken together, the ABMT appears to be a psychometrically valid research measure of children’s overall early mathematics skills; however, caution should be taken when comparing mean scores for boys and girls.publishedVersio

Måleegenskaper ved den norske versjonen av Lamer Social Competence in Preschool Scale (LSCIP)

Lamer Social Competence in Preschool Scale (LSCIP) er et spørreskjemabasert måleinstrument som kartlegger barns sosiale kompetanse i en nordisk barnehagekontekst. LSCIP bygger på det amerikanske måleinstrumentet Social Skills Rating System (SSRS). Instrumentet består av 31 ledd. Spørreskjemaet kan besvares av barnehagepersonell eller foresatte. Det gis svar på en fempunkts Likert-skala fra én (veldig sjelden) til fem (veldig ofte) om hvor ofte barnet viser kompetansen i de siste to månedene. Et systematisk litteratursøk etter norske, danske og svenske studier som rapporterte psykometriske egenskaper ved LSCIP resulterte i 109 treff. Fem studier, hvorav én masteroppgave, ble funnet gjennom andre kilder. Etter vurdering av fulltekst ble totalt ni norske studier inkluderte. Disse inneholdt dokumentasjon om både reliabilitet og validitet. Studiene rapporterer resultater for barn i aldersgruppen 1½ - 5½ år. Utvalgene er relativt store (fra n = 478 til n = 1426), men noen utvalg er representert flere ganger. De inkluderte studiene omfatter ingen kliniske utvalg, kun den generelle populasjonen. Resultatene viser god reliabilitet for hele skalaen, men noe mindre konsistent reliabilitet for delskalaene. Begrepsvaliditet blir rapportert gjennom to forskjellige tilnærminger til faktorstruktur, og disse har noe motstridende resultater. Derfor er det usikkert om LSCIP måler et flerdimensjonalt eller unidimensjonalt begrep. Det er manglende dokumentasjon på konvergerende-, diskriminerende- og kriterievaliditet og det er ukjent hvordan instrumentet fungerer i kliniske populasjoner. Det finnes imidlertid noe dokumentasjon på samtidig og prediktiv validitet. Enkelte av LSCIPs psykometriske egenskaper er relativt godt undersøkt.. Samtidig er det noe motstridende resultater når det gjelder delskalaene og manglende informasjon på validitet, normdata og kliniske undergrupper. Vi anbefaler derfor LSCIP kun til bruk i forskning foreløpig.publishedVersio

Why do early mathematics skills predict later mathematics and reading achievement? The role of executive function

A robust association between young children’s early mathematical proficiency and later academic achievement is well established. Less is known about the mechanisms through which early mathematics skills may contribute to later mathematics and especially reading achievement. Using a parallel multiple mediator model, the current study investigated whether executive function (integration of working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility) can explain the relations between early mathematics skills and elementary school mathematics and reading achievement. Data in this longitudinal study were collected from 243 children during the last year of early childhood education and care (kindergarten ages 5 and 6 years), 1 year later in first grade, and 5 years later when the children were in fifth grade. Background variables (maternal education, age, sex, and immigrant status), kindergarten baseline skills, and mediating effects of first-grade mathematics, phonological awareness, vocabulary, and possible omitted variables were controlled. Results showed that first-grade executive function mediated the effects of kindergarten mathematics on fifth-grade mathematics and on reading achievement. These findings suggest that executive function may work as a mechanism that may help to explain the frequently found strong association between children’s early mathematics skills and later mathematics and reading achievement.publishedVersio

The Effects of a Structured Curriculum on Preschool Effectiveness: A Field Experiment

Abstract: This study tests an intervention that introduces a structured curriculum for five-year-olds into the universal preschool context of Norway, where the business as usual is an unstructured curriculum. We conduct a field experiment with 691 five-year-olds in 71 preschools and measure treatment impacts on children’s development in mathematics, language, and executive functioning. The nine-month intervention has effects on child development at post-intervention and the effects persist one year following the end of the treatment. The effects are mainly driven by the preschools identified as low-quality at baseline, indicating that a structured curriculum can reduce inequality in early childhood learning environments.publishedVersio

The Effects of a Structured Curriculum on Preschool Effectiveness: A Field Experiment

Abstract: This study tests an intervention that introduces a structured curriculum for five-year-olds into the universal preschool context of Norway, where the business as usual is an unstructured curriculum. We conduct a field experiment with 691 five-year-olds in 71 preschools and measure treatment impacts on children’s development in mathematics, language, and executive functioning. The nine-month intervention has effects on child development at post-intervention and the effects persist one year following the end of the treatment. The effects are mainly driven by the preschools identified as low-quality at baseline, indicating that a structured curriculum can reduce inequality in early childhood learning environments.publishedVersio

Early Childhood Executive Function, Literacy, and Mathematics: Direction of Effects and Domain-Specificity Across the Transition to School

Across the lifespan, early childhood is a time of tremendous and rapid learning. The executive functions (ability to inhibit responses, update working memory, and flexibly shift attention) and early academic skills (literacy and mathematics) that children acquire before school entry are strong, if not the strongest, predictors of their later academic achievement and educational outcomes. The central role of early childhood academic and executive skills for children’s prospects makes it vital to understand how these skills relate, especially during the transition from early childhood education to formal schooling. Research on early skill development may provide valuable information on where difficulties may arise and where to put in resources. Despite an increasing body of literature showing that good executive function in children is positively related to academic skills, previous research has limitations that restrict our understanding of the specific nature of these associations. Specifically, little is known about the direction of effects and possible domain-specific relations. That is, is the relation between executive function and early literacy and mathematics unidirectional or mutually interdependent with certain academic skills also predicting executive function? And, do certain components of executive function differently predict early literacy and mathematics? Early literacy and mathematics are often studied in isolation, despite clear knowledge that these two areas are highly related. How executive function relates to these skills when taking into account their interrelations is less known. Moreover, contextual factors, such as the child’s educational environment, may affect the interrelations between executive function and academic skills. The majority of studies have investigated associations in school-readiness early childhood education contexts. Few studies have investigated how these skills relate in children in a play-based early childhood education context, such as Norway. The main aim of this dissertation was to get a better understanding of the interrelations between executive function (including self-regulation, attentional-, and behavioral control), early literacy, and mathematics when children (ages 5-7) make the transition from early childhood education (kindergarten) to formal education (first grade). The dissertation includes three studies. Study I provides the basis for Study II with a psychometric evaluation of the early mathematics assessment used in that study. Study II investigates the direction of effects between self-regulation and early literacy and mathematics. Study III assesses the pathways from two aspects of executive function (attentional and behavioral control) to early literacy and mathematics. Below follows a brief description of each study. Study I In Study I, the psychometric properties of an early mathematics assessment (ABMT; Ani Banani Math Test) for kindergarten children were investigated in three samples (N = 243, N = 691, and N = 1282). It was expected that the ABMT showed a consistent factor structure across different samples, that items functioned similarly across age, sex, and socioeconomic status, and that it was more strongly related to other math assessments than to measures of executive function or literacy. The results showed that a one-factor structure was the most representative and reliable structure for the ABMT and that it functioned similarly across age and socioeconomic status. Two items showed signs of differential item functioning in favor of boys and one in favor of girls. Furthermore, the analyses provided evidence that the ABMT has concurrent, predictive, and discriminant validity. This indicates that although scores on the ABMT are related to executive function and literacy, it is most strongly an indicator of children’s early mathematics. Study II Using cross-lagged panel models, in Study II the direction of relations between self-regulation and mathematics, expressive vocabulary, and phonological awareness were investigated in children (N = 243) making the transition from a play-based kindergarten context to formal schooling in first grade. Bidirectional relations were expected between selfregulation and mathematics and between self-regulation and expressive vocabulary. Self-regulation was expected to predict phonological awareness, but not the reverse. These expectations were partly confirmed; bidirectionality was found for mathematics, but not for expressive vocabulary. While expressive vocabulary did predict selfregulation, self-regulation was not a robust predictor of phonological awareness. These results are in line with the notion that there is a particularly robust bidirectional connection between self-regulation and mathematics and that language is important for the acquisition of selfregulation. Study III Because early literacy and mathematics may require different cognitive and behavioral abilities, specific aspects of executive function may be differentially related to these academic skills. Using structural equation modeling, in Study III (N = 90), it was investigated how two components of executive function (attentional and behavioral control) predicted phonological awareness and early number sense in kindergarten and word reading and mathematics in first grade. Attentional control was expected to be a specific predictor for word reading, while both components were expected to predict mathematics. Results indicated that attentional control predicted word reading and that this relation went via phonological awareness. Behavioral control did not predict word reading but did so indirectly through phonological awareness. Attentional control did not predict mathematics in first grade. Behavioral control, on the contrary, showed a direct and robust relation to later mathematics. These differential domain-specific relations suggest that the development of early literacy and mathematics may differentially rely on attentional and behavioral control processes

Inclusion of students with special education needs in Nordic countries: a systematic scoping review

In this systematic scoping review, research on the inclusion of students with special education needs (SEN) in Nordic countries was reviewed to describe the scope and types of empirical research, identify the practices and approaches on the inclusion of students with SEN, and conceptually map how particular concepts (i.e., inclusion, SEN) are referred to by the authors of each study in the empirical literature. Based on a comprehensive literature search of relevant peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in three databases, 135 studies were selected as eligible in line with the a priori defined inclusion criteria. Results highlight that there still is a need to clarify perspectives on inclusion and on who needs support, and quantitative and mixed-method studies on actual practices and student outcomes including students’ perspectives are needed.publishedVersio

Cyberbullying related to ethnicity or indigeneity among children and adolescents: a scoping review protocol

The present protocol is for a systematic scoping review that aims at providing an overview of the state of the art of empirical research worldwide on cyberbullying related to ethnicity or indigeneity involving ethnic minority (migrants, racial groups, refugees or national minorities) or indigenous children and adolescents, by summarizing aspects of conceptualization, methodology, and results across studies. Findings of this scoping review will contribute to develop a better overview of the phenomenon of cyberbullying related to ethnicity or indigeneity and will inform policy and future research agenda

Direct and indirect pathways from children’s early self-regulation to academic achievement in fifth grade in Norway

A large body of research has documented the role of self-regulation in academic skill development for young children. However, few studies have investigated longitudinal and indirect effects from kindergarten through later elementary school. In this longitudinal Norwegian study, we investigated pathways from children’s self-regulation in kindergarten (Mage = 5.8; N = 243, 49% girls), to language and math skills in first grade (N = 240) and reading comprehension and math achievement in fifth grade (N = 160). Self-regulation was measured with direct and teacher-reported assessments. Path models showed that both directly assessed and teacher-reported self-regulation in kindergarten predicted math skills but not vocabulary and phonological awareness skills in first grade. Teacher-reported self-regulation indirectly predicted fifth grade reading comprehension through first grade teacher-reported self-regulation, and directly assessed self-regulation predicted fifth grade math achievement through math skills and directly assessed self-regulation in first grade. When controlling for kindergarten self-regulation, both self-regulation measures in first grade predicted fifth grade reading and directly assessed self-regulation predicted math achievement. Findings elucidate the foundational role of early self-regulation for later academic achievement and the differential effects of directly assessed versus teacher-reported self-regulation in a Norwegian sample.publishedVersio