Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Preschool Mathematics Performance And Executive Function: Rural-Urban Comparisons Across Time, Jacob Esplin, Ann Berhout Austin, Belinda Blevins-Knabe, Brionne Thompson, Robert C. Corwyn

Human Development and Family Studies Faculty Publications

This longitudinal study, with urban and rural preschool children, examines the relationship between executive function (EF) and mathematics. A panel of direct and indirect measures of EF were used to determine which EF measures were most predictive and a measure of mathematics assessed both numeracy and geometry skill. One hundred eighteen children, ages 39 to 68 months, and their preschool teachers were included, with assessments given twice, about six months apart. EF measures were compared by the amount of variance in mathematics skill each claimed, including the influence of a child’s age, gender, and rural-urban context. Results suggest the child’s …