Effortful Control, Executive Functions, and Education: Bringing Selfâ•’Regulatory and Socialâ•’Emotional Competencies to the Table

Self-regulatory skills are essential for school readiness and future achievement, but self-regulation is a broad and multidimensional construct consisting of both behavioral and cognitive processes. Thus, researchers often study these processes from either a behavioral and temperament-based approach or a cognitive ⁄neural systems approach. The temperament-based framework often focuses on effortful control, whereas the cognitive or neuroscience framework often focuses on executive functions. Although literatures on effortful control and executive functions come from different research traditions, the field needs to view them as complementary rather than incompatible to advance the understanding of the role of self-regulation in learning and achievement across development. This article calls for bringing both bodies of research to the table when making decisions about educational policies and practices. KEYWORDS—self-regulation; effortful control; executive functioning; school readiness; achievement Developmental science is as much about understanding distinct domains of development as it is about ‘‘reassembling the ‘whole child’ from the network of allied developmental changes that tend to be otherwise studied distinctly’’ (Thompson, 1993, p. 397), and educational and developmental sciences are key Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jeffrey Liew, College of Education and Human Development, Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4225; e-mail: [email protected]. a 2011 The Author Child Development Perspectives a 2011 The Society for Research in Child Development DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00196.x Volume 6, Number 2, 2 pieces in the puzzle of how best to educate the whole child (Diamond, 2010). Although evidence shows that self-regulatory and academic competencies go hand in hand (e.g., Blair & Razza, 2007; Duncan et al., 2007; Howse, Calkins, Anastopoulos, Keane, & Shelton, 2003; Payton et al., 2008; Raver, Garner, & Smith-Donald, 2007), such a dual-focus perspective is not yet common in curriculum development or teaching practices (Bierman, Nix, Greenberg, Blair, & Domitrovich, 2008; Diamond, 2010; Liew & McTigue, 2010). Developmental scientists have both the opportunity and the responsibility to inform curriculum development processes through research and dialogue with stakeholders on what it takes to nurture complete learners. SELF-REGULATION AND SCHOOL READINESS Before entering formal schooling, many children participate in early childhood education or preschool programs that prepare them to start kindergarten ready to learn. School readiness, or ‘‘the state of child competencies at the time of school entry that are important for later success’’ (Snow, 2006, p. 9), includes preacademic and social-emotional competencies (Bierman et al., 2008; Blair, 2002; Denham, 2006; Ladd, Herald, & Kochel, 2006; Raver et al., 2007). School readiness may be especially important for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, as they often lag behind in school readiness skills (Winsler et al., 2008). In the United States, the School Readiness Act (H.R. 2123, 2005) mandates federal programs such as Head Start to prepare children for formal schooling by facilitating child gains in the areas of language and comprehension skills, prereading and premathematics skills, cognitive abilities, and social and emotional development. The competencies that fall under the area of social and emotional development include self-regulation, which facilitates learning and social relations at school (Raver & Knitzer, 2002).