Start behavioral and achievement support before school entry and monitor trajectories continuously¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 2 studies (2 associational), q2–q3 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Because achievement and behavior are highly stable from grade 1 onward, the authors recommend that "even earlier time points than those considered here, e.g., preschool, and thus precursor skills (including attention, language development, early socialization, and attachment experiences) should be considered" in intervention planning. They further recommend early and continuous assessments of learning prerequisites, developmental statuses, and trajectories, targeted to the individual child's problem and implementable through RTI models.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Early and continuous assessment of learning prerequisites and developmental trajectories
• Assessments targeted to the individual child's problem, implementable through RTI models

Constraints¶

• The study found stability already high at school entry, implying school-entry interventions may be too late; effectiveness of the proposed preschool timing is itself not tested in this study

Target Learners¶

• primary school students (grades 1–4) and preschool children

Target Learning Goals¶

• preventing school performance failure and chronic behavioral disorders; adequate learning progress in reading, spelling, and mathematics

Claims¶

• Achievement rank-order stability is high across primary school, with written-language stability (β = 0.62–0.75) exceeding mathematics stability (β = 0.38–0.45) [+M]
• Internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems show moderate to strong rank-order stability from grade 1 to grade 4 [+M]
• Cross-lagged effects between behavioral problems and achievement are sporadic and domain-dependent, not consistently reciprocal, across elementary school [+M]
• The rank ordering of math and reading skills is highly stable over time, while four SEL domains are more strongly influenced by contextual factors [+M]

Related Strategies¶

• Provide early, effective, targeted intensive intervention to disrupt persistent trajectories of reading difficulty

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Kulakow, S., Mahlau, K., & Kocaj, A. (2023). The longitudinal relationship between internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems with academic achievement in elementary school. https://osf.io/cyqak/?view_only=37eade9dd7c142e88fe9bef9451c125e