Examining the Relations Between Self-Regulation and Achievement in Third-Grade Students - Assessment for Effective Intervention 2017, Vol. 42(2)

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McGucket

Children with stronger self-regulation skills generally demonstrate greater overall success in school academically and socially. Yet, middle elementary school has few valid and reliable ways to measure self-regulation, which limits identification of children with true difficulties. The Remembering Rules and Regulation Picture Task (RRRP) was created to support scoring-system development and to test links between RRRP, other self-regulation measures, and achievement in mathematics and reading.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Research Background

Self-Regulation and Academic Achievement

Attentional Flexibility

Examining the Relations Between Self-Regulation and Achievement in Third-Grade Students Assessment for Effective Intervention 2017, Vol. 42(2) 97–109 © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2016 Reprints and permissions: [sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav](sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav)[ ](sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav)[DOI: 10.1177/1534508416670367](DOI: 10.1177/1534508416670367)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/1534508416670367)[aei.sagepub.com](aei.sagepub.com) Stephanie L. Day, PhD 1 and Carol McDonald Connor, PhD 1 Abstract Children with stronger self-regulation skills generally demonstrate greater overall success in school both academically and socially. However, there are few valid and reliable measures of self-regulation in middle elementary school. Such a measure could help identify whether a child is truly having difficulties. Thus, the Remembering Rules and Regulation Picture Task (RRRP) was developed. The aim of this study was to develop scoring systems for the RRRP and then to examine the associations between RRRP and independent measures of self-regulation and academic achievement in mathematics and reading. Children (N = 282) from 34 third-grade classrooms in Florida participated in this study. Results revealed that the RRRP captured three constructs: working memory, attentional flexibility, and inhibitory control. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) demonstrated that the RRRP was significantly and positively associated with other measures of selfregulation. The RRRP was significantly and positively associated with mathematics and reading as well. The RRRP appears to be a promising measure of children’s self-regulation skills. Keywords self-regulation, vocabulary, academic achievement, reading, executive function, mathematics, language Research on the relation between self-regulation and academic achievement is becoming increasingly important as we try to learn about all of the potential factors that may influence children’s academic achievement (Connor et al., 2010; McClelland & Ponitz, 2011; Zimmerman, 2001) . There are a number of child characteristics that can affect literacy achievement and academic success (Duncan et al., 2007; McGee, Prior, Williams, Smart, & Sanson, 2002), and increasingly, in addition to cognitive skills, self-regulation has been noted as a potentially important source of influence. We define self-regulation as being supported by executive functioning, specifically working memory, inhibitory control, and attentional flexibility (Lin, Coburn, & Eisenberg, 2016) . Self-regulation is an active process by which people learn to control their own behaviors, cognition, motivation (Pintrich, 2000), and emotions (Lin et al., 2016) . Having strong self-regulation skills appears to be crucial for academic success as it allows students to concentrate on instruction, to be more organized, rehearse information that is to be remembered, to use their environmental resources efficiently and effectively so that they may benefit from learning experiences, to hold positive beliefs about their own capabilities, and to set plans and goals for their actions (Schunk, 1989; Schunk & Zimmerman, 1994) . Hence, developing an assessment that can reliably and validly assess children’s self-regulation would, potentially, allow for better identification and accommodation of students with either weak or strong self-regulation skills during their school career, and was thus the purpose of this study. There have been a number of studies that have examined the associations between self-regulation and academic achievement, but most of these studies have been conducted with younger children, particularly those in preschool and kindergarten (McClelland et al., 2007; Ponitz et al., 2008; Ponitz, McClelland, Matthews, & Morrison, 2009), whereas much less work has focused on middle elementary grades (Del Giudice, 2014) . Research has shown that students who demonstrate more disruptive behaviors and lack strong self-

FAQs

What problem does the study address about measuring self-regulation?

The study addresses the lack of valid and reliable measures of self-regulation in middle elementary school, which makes it difficult to identify children who truly struggle.

What is the Remembering Rules and Regulation Picture Task (RRRP)?

RRRP is a newly developed assessment designed to capture self-regulation skills using constructs aligned with executive functioning.

What constructs and achievement outcomes are examined in relation to RRRP?

RRRP is reported to capture working memory, attentional flexibility, and inhibitory control, and it is examined for positive associations with self-regulation measures and with mathematics and reading achievement.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McGucket