Executive functions show significant associations with reading outcomes in elementary school children (meta-analysis of 60 studies, 275 effect sizes)¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesisr?·q4
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q4 i? Across 60 studies yielding 275 effect sizes, meta-analysis revealed significant associations between EF and reading outcomes. → Ting Zhou 2026
Evidence¶
Ting Zhou 2026¶
Ting Zhou, Thuy Anh Nguyen, Aprezo Pardodi Maba, Damon Thomas, Young-Suk Grace Kim, Elizabeth J. Edwards. (2026). Executive Functions and Reading in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-026-10160-5
q4 · i? · quant-synthesis · r?
Pre-registered three-level random-effects meta-analysis of zero-order correlations from 60 of 69 included studies of typically developing English-first-language children aged 5-13. The meta-analysis revealed "significant associations between EF and reading outcomes"; no pooled effect size is printed in the provided text.
"Sixty studies (yielding 275 effect sizes) met criteria for meta-analysis, revealing significant associations between EF and reading outcomes"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Executive functions and working memory correlate moderately to strongly with mathematics achievement (r = .28 to .40), from preschool through elementary school
- Meta-analytic findings show small-to-medium relations between EF and academic performance, with cognitive flexibility showing the strongest effects — a broader claim this one bears on
- Executive functioning was not a significant unique predictor of first-grade reading in children with low number sense — related
- Executive functions do not directly predict syntactic complexity or story content once transcription and language skills are controlled — related
- EF explains substantial achievement variance (about 20–60% in school children) while SRL shows positive but low-effect-size relations to achievement — related
- Executive functions show consistent positive meta-analytic associations with academic outcomes — a broader claim this one bears on
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
ef-significantly-associated-with-reading-meta-analysis |
title |
Executive functions show significant associations with reading outcomes in elementary school children (meta-analysis of 60 studies, 275 effect sizes) |
description |
Executive functions show significant associations with reading outcomes in elementary school children (meta-analysis of 60 studies, 275 effect sizes) |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2026 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-19 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — ting-zhou-2026 |
Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.