The measurement of executive function at age 5: Psychometric properties and relationship to academic achievement

This study examined the psychometric properties and criterion validity of a newly developed battery of executive function tasks for use in early childhood. The battery was included in the Family Life Project (FLP), a prospective longitudinal study of families who were over-sampled from low income and African American families at the birth of a new child (N = 1292). Ninety-nine percent (N = 1036) of children who participated in the age 5 home visit completed one or more (M = 5.8, Median = 6) of the six executive function tasks. Results indicated that tasks worked equally well for children residing in low and not low income homes, that task scores were most informative about the ability level of children in the low-average range, that performance on executive function tasks was best characterized by a single factor, and that individual differences on the EF battery were strongly related to a latent variable measuring overall academic achievement, as well as with individual standardized tests that measured phonological awareness, letter-word identification, and early math skills.