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The Promotion of Self‐Regulation as a Means of

Enhancing School Readiness and Early
Achievement in Children...

Article in Child Development Perspectives · June 2012

DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00209.x

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 CHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES

The Promotion of Self-Regulation as a Means of

Enhancing School Readiness and Early Achievement
in Children at Risk for School Failure
Alexandra Ursache, Clancy Blair, and C. Cybele Raver
New York University

ABSTRACT—This article reviews the literature on self-regu- emotional well-being and positive social relationships with
lation and the development of school readiness and aca- teachers and peers (Denham, 2006; Mashburn & Pianta, 2006).
demic competence in early childhood. It focuses on Still others have measured self-regulation in terms of the ability
relations between the development of cognitive aspects of to persist and to delay gratification (Mischel, Shoda, & Rodri-
regulation—referred to as executive functions and defined guez, 1989), while yet again others have examined executive
as abilities used to regulate information and to organize functions (EF) and the ability to organize information and engage
thinking in goal-directed activities—and the development in rule-based and goal-directed tasks (Blair & Razza, 2007;
of reactivity and regulation in stimulus-driven emotion, McClelland et al., 2007).
attention, and physiological stress response systems. The findings of numerous studies make it clear that self-regu-
It examines a bidirectional model of cognition–emotion lation meaningfully predicts academic achievement. What is less
interaction in the development of self-regulation in which clear, however, is how the various emotional, attentional, and
top-down executive control of thought and behavior devel- cognitive aspects of self-regulation measured in studies of school
ops in reciprocal and interactive relation to bottom-up readiness are interrelated yet also distinct. To address this
influences of emotion and stress reactivity. The bidirec- question of the unity as opposed to diversity of self-regulation
tional model is examined within the context of innovative abilities in young children, we focus primarily on two con-
preschool interventions designed to promote school readi- structs—EF and emotion regulation—and present a develop-
ness by promoting the development of self-regulation. mental model that examines relations between them. We then
examine how the model is relevant to innovative curricula to
KEYWORDS—executive functions; emotion regulation; self-
promote school readiness and academic achievement.
regulation; school readiness

EF AND ACHIEVEMENT
Many studies have demonstrated the role of self-regulation in
To some extent, EF describes aspects of cognition that are syn-
academic achievement with children in preschool and the early
onymous with the volitional control of thinking in purposeful
elementary grades. Some of these studies measure self-regulation
goal-directed activities. Specifically, EF includes three compo-
in terms of aspects of temperament and attention such as effortful
nents: the ability to hold information in working memory, the
control (Valiente, Lemery-Chalfant, Swanson, & Reiser, 2008),
ability to resist interference and distraction from extraneous or
while others have examined self-regulation in terms of social-
prepotent response tendencies and associations, and the ability
to shift the focus of attention (or shift what is referred to as ‘‘cog-
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to nitive set’’). As such, EF abilities describe thinking skills that
Clancy Blair, Department of Applied Psychology, New York Univer- are important for learning and have been shown to account for
sity, 196 Mercer Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10012-9873;
e-mail: [email protected]. unique variance in measures of academic competence. For
example, Bull and Scerif (2001) demonstrated that measures of
ª 2011 The Authors
Child Development Perspectives ª 2011 The Society for Research in Child Development
the shifting and working memory aspects of EF were uniquely
DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00209.x associated with math achievement at the end of first grade.

Volume 6, Number 2, 2012, Pages 122–128

 Promotion of Self-Regulation in School 123

Similarly, Espy et al. (2004) demonstrated that a developmen- enjoyment and engagement in school, and poor academic out-
tally appropriate battery of nine tasks measuring all three com- comes (Hamre & Pianta, 2005; Ladd, Herald, & Kochel, 2006).
ponents of EF were associated with math ability in preschoolers. Overall, emotion regulation is a key aspect of self-regulation
Similarly, our research and studies by others suggest that mea- related to children’s school readiness and achievement.
sures of EF are both concurrently and longitudinally predictive
of children’s math and literacy ability in preschool and kinder- SELF-REGULATION AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: A
garten (Blair & Razza, 2007; McClelland et al., 2007; Welsh, DEVELOPMENTAL MODEL
Nix, Blair, Bierman, & Nelson, 2010).
Skeptics might suggest that EF is simply a stage-salient corre- As our brief literature review suggests, both EF and emotion reg-
late or marker of underlying general cognitive ability. However, ulation are meaningful correlates of school readiness and early
many of the studies mentioned above found that EF measured in school achievement. We suggest, however, that rather than
preschool and in kindergarten was uniquely associated with thinking of EF and emotion regulation as separate influences on
well-established indicators of academic ability, over and above school readiness, it is most productive to think of cognitive and
measures of general cognitive ability. Importantly, most associa- emotional aspects of self-regulation as functioning in a recipro-
tions between EF and achievement have been observed when cal, interrelated balance (Lewis & Todd, 2007). To address this
controlling for intelligence or for pretest achievement measures. point, we have proposed a developmental model of self-regula-
In many instances, measures of EF substantially attenuate vari- tion that focuses on bidirectional relations between the develop-
ance in outcomes associated with measures of intelligence and ment of emotion regulation and the development of EF ability
pretest academic ability. This is not to say that EF is necessarily (Blair & Dennis, 2010; Blair & Ursache, 2011). In this model,
more important for achievement than general ability but that we define self-regulation as the primarily volitional management
both general ability (or what is referred to as ‘‘crystallized intelli- of arousal or activity in attention, emotion, and stress response
gence’’) and EF (a manifestation of fluid intelligence) are distinct systems in ways that facilitate the use of EF abilities in the ser-
and complementary influences on developing academic achieve- vice of goal-directed actions. The model indicates that for some
ment (Blair, 2006). children, experiences at home and at school foster levels of emo-
tional reactivity, attention control, and stress responding that are
EMOTION REGULATION AND ACHIEVEMENT conducive to EF abilities, and that increase the likelihood that
individuals will use them. In contrast, for other children, particu-
The relation of self-regulation to academic achievement is visible larly children growing up in poverty, early childhood experiences
in studies measuring EF as well as in research on emotion regu- are more likely to lead to levels of arousal in emotion, attention,
lation (Raver, 2002; Raver, Garner, & Smith-Donald, 2007). and stress response systems that do not foster optimal EF and
Emotion regulation is the intra- and interpersonal modulation of that may lead to more reactive and less reflective responses to
an activated emotion through a variety of cognitive and behav- stimulation (Blair, 2010; Blair & Raver, in press).
ioral strategies (Cole, Martin, & Dennis, 2004). Children who The conception of self-regulation as a bidirectional system
can appropriately regulate positive and negative emotions have linking emotion with cognition is relevant to research on the role
high levels of achievement in early elementary math and reading of self-regulation in early childhood education and academic
(Howse, Calkins, Anastopoulos, Keane, & Shelton, 2003; Trenta- achievement. In our model, EF is the top-down or volitional com-
costa & Izard, 2007). Moreover, relations between emotion regu- ponent of self-regulation, important for fostering motivation
lation (as measured by parental report on the Emotion (defined as moderate levels of emotional and physiological arou-
Regulation scale of the Emotion Regulation Checklist) and per- sal that accompany interest and engagement) and the effortful
formance on standardized math and early literacy assessments in processing of information in a complex learning task. This voli-
kindergarten hold even after controlling for IQ (Graziano, Reavis, tional component, however, is reciprocally related to and depen-
Keane, & Calkins, 2007). Children with higher emotional com- dent on bottom-up, less volitional, and more automatic
petence (as indexed by accuracy in identifying and modulating regulation of responses to the environment through attention,
emotions and responding prosocially in emotionally volatile situ- emotion, and stress response systems (Blair, 2002; Blair & Den-
ations) are more engaged in the classroom, and teachers perceive nis, 2010). In school, children become more adept at regulating
them as more academically and socially competent than children boredom or frustration by relying on strategies, classroom rules,
experiencing difficulty with emotion regulation (Denham, 2006). and routines that help them reallocate their attention and regu-
Children’s emotional self-regulation also affects early achieve- late emotion and stress. This habitual management enables the
ment by facilitating positive interactions with teachers and peers activation and use of EF abilities that in turn further facilitate
that promote school engagement, school liking, and early learn- the management of attention, emotion, and stress, producing a
ing and achievement (Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Ladd, Birch, & positive feedback loop. In contrast, when children experience
Buhs, 1999). Children experiencing difficulty with emotion regu- disengagement or emotional arousal, whether positive or nega-
lation are more likely to experience peer rejection, declining tive, that exceed their capacity to regulate emotion, then

Child Development Perspectives, Volume 6, Number 2, 2012, Pages 122–128

124 Alexandra Ursache, Clancy Blair, and C. Cybele Raver

bottom-up, stimulus-driven control of emotion, attention, and the Tools of the Mind curriculum (Tools; Bodrova & Leong,
stress arousal can predominate and override EF abilities. In the 2007) reported by Barnett et al. (2008) and A. Diamond, Barnett,
bidirectional model of self-regulation, a balance is achieved Thomas, and Munro (2007). After describing the programs, we
when bottom-up processes of attention, emotion, and stress reac- use the bidirectional model to explore how they may have
tivity are managed within levels that facilitate rather than derail improved self-regulation in order to promote early school suc-
EF abilities. As such, the bidirectional model of self-regulation cess. We argue that the programs not only fostered children’s
development is best understood within the framework of the clas- learning but also may have enhanced the classroom environment,
sic Yerkes–Dodson inverted-U relation between arousal and reducing classroom stress while improving students’ ability to
complex learning, in which very high and very low levels of arou- pay attention and to monitor their own learning. We suggest that
sal lead to deficits in learning whereas moderate levels lead to through mechanisms relating to improved classroom environ-
more optimal learning (D. Diamond, Campbell, Park, Halonen, ments, these programs increased the chances that children’s
& Zoladz, 2007; Yerkes & Dodson, 1908). arousal levels were optimal for supporting EF abilities. We con-
In its focus on the integration of emotion and cognition, the clude by reviewing the program evaluations, focusing specifically
bidirectional model of self-regulation development is similar to on improvements in EF and academic achievement.
at least two other models examining self-regulation processes.
The first is Calkins and Marcovitch’s (2010) model, in which Head Start REDI, Tools, and CSRP
advances in emotion regulation set the stage for the development Program Descriptions
of cognitive control processes. The second is Cunningham and The Head Start REDI program (Bierman, Domitrovich, et al.,
Zelazo’s iterative reprocessing (IR) model. In the IR model, 2008) included enhanced language and emergent literacy
slower reflective executive processes through which individuals instruction as well as the preschool version of the PATHS (Pro-
develop higher order, stable cognitive schema or representations moting Alternative Thinking Strategies) curriculum, which
(referred to in the IR model as ‘‘attitudes’’) are distinguished emphasizes children’s social-emotional skills (Domitrovich,
from more rapid, positively versus negatively valenced and auto- Cortes, & Greenberg, 2007; Riggs, Greenberg, Kusche, & Pentz,
matic responses that may be less stable and more stimulus- 2006). The CSRP targeted school readiness in low-income
driven (termed ‘‘evaluations’’; Cunningham, Zelazo, Packer, & preschoolers by increasing emotional and behavioral self-regula-
Van Bavel, 2007). The bidirectional model is similar to these tory skills (Raver et al., 2009; Raver et al., 2011). Its focus on
models in its focus on automatic and volitional processing of teacher training and coaching by a mental health consultant was
information; it is distinct, however, in its focus on the probabilis- designed to improve the emotional climate of the classroom, lower
tic and contextually driven interaction of more automatic arousal children’s level of conflict with peers, and lower teacher stress
processes (attention, emotion, and stress and their neuroendo- (Raver et al., 2008; Raver et al., 2009; Zhai, Raver, & Li-Grining,
crine and physiological sequelae) and volitional EF processes. in press), thereby creating a classroom environment where chil-
Of course, habitual modes of responding, either reflective or dren would be better able to handle challenging situations. The
reactive, can become readily established, producing continuity Tools curriculum specifically promotes the development of EF as
and apparent stability in development (see Gottlieb, 1983), but a a means to enhance student learning and engagement (A. Dia-
primary focus for the bidirectional model is developmental mond et al., 2007). It is the only one of the curricula that uses
malleability and the potential for behavior change inherent in a activities to directly target children’s EF but also emphasizes col-
contextually based approach. laborative scaffolded learning through sociodramatic play in ways
that foster children’s ability to take turns, to take others’ perspec-
THE PROMOTION OF SELF-REGULATION AS A MEANS tives, and to monitor themselves and their peers simultaneously.
OF PREVENTING SCHOOL FAILURE One focus of each intervention was to create a predictable
classroom structure in which children could engage in self-direc-
The model of self-regulation as a bidirectional system has impli- ted learning. For example, REDI was incorporated into the daily
cations for programs designed to promote school readiness and structure of the classroom so that routines remained predictable
achievement in young children at risk for school failure because (Bierman, Nix, et al., 2008). CSRP targeted the formation of
of poverty. Although no single program has yet explicitly clear classroom structure and routines by training teachers to
addressed the development of self-regulation as a bidirectional manage their classrooms more effectively and supportively
system, several have incorporated measurement of various (Raver et al., 2009). In Tools, children cooperatively planned
aspects of self-regulation. Here we focus on three evaluations of scenarios and acted them out according to the rules they had
innovative preschool curricula, the Research-Based Develop- chosen to govern the story and characters (Bodrova & Leong,
mentally Informed (REDI) Head Start innovation (Bierman, 2007). This promotion of self-directed learning within a predict-
Domitrovich, et al., 2008; Bierman, Nix, Greenberg, Blair, & able structure likely fostered optimal levels of emotional arousal
Domitrovich, 2008), the Chicago School Readiness Project including engagement and attention that could support children’s
(CSRP; Raver et al., 2009), and the experimental evaluation of EF development.

Child Development Perspectives, Volume 6, Number 2, 2012, Pages 122–128

 Promotion of Self-Regulation in School 125

Improved ability to use language and regulate emotion also behaviors, and taking turns. These positive social skills in turn
probably mediated student behavioral improvements in REDI, probably reduce peer conflicts that are stressful for teachers and
CSRP, and Tools (Dickinson, McCabe, & Essex, 2006; Riggs students.
et al., 2006). REDI taught children to use language to scaffold Because frustrating conflicts are less likely to occur, children
self-regulation. Moreover, the inclusion of PATHS in REDI can maintain levels of arousal that support the continued devel-
further promoted emotion regulation by teaching children to opment of EF and academic skills. Moreover, because children
understand and express emotions, negotiate conflicts, build pro- are engaged rather than being bored in the classroom, they may
social skills, and inhibit impulsive behavior (Domitrovich, be less prone to using inappropriate strategies such as acting out
Greenberg, Kusche, & Cortes, 1999). In CSRP, because teachers to increase their own arousal. In keeping with the inverted-U,
themselves learned to use clearer, less affectively negative direc- effective classroom management and an increase in both teach-
tives and requests, children may have better regulated their emo- ers’ and students’ positive engagement is one promising mecha-
tions even when asked to correct their misbehavior. In Tools, nism for the success of the programs we outlined above.
children first experienced language (including private language)
as a means of regulating their own and others’ attention and emo- Program Effects on Self-Regulation and Academic Achievement
tions during cooperative activities. Thus, children probably Evaluations of REDI, CSRP, and Tools have considered the
maintained arousal levels that further supported EF and aca- extent to which distinct aspects of self-regulation might serve as
demic skills. By being well regulated themselves, they may have a key mediating mechanism, whereby the intervention would
been less likely to cause conflict situations that would have made lead to increases in children’s EF skills, which would in turn
emotion regulation difficult for others. lead to increased school readiness. REDI was hypothesized to
Furthermore, in managing their classrooms, teachers also reg- enhance EF by promoting skills such as emotion regulation and
ulate their own attention, emotions, and cognition when provid- self-awareness through the PATHS curriculum’s social-emotional
ing regulatory support to their students (Cole et al., 2004; Raver, focus. CSRP provided the most direct test of the bidirectional
2004). In REDI, when children became upset, teachers could model by hypothesizing that creating a low-stress, positive class-
employ the emotion regulation techniques from PATHS to help room climate would improve emotion and attention regulation
students regulate their behavior, thus reducing the likelihood and promote EF. Tools, as noted above, was expected to foster
that teachers themselves would become dysregulated when deal- EF development through direct instruction, but also, in keeping
ing with a dysregulated student. As part of their emphasis on tea- with the bidirectional model, to alter classroom climates to better
cher stress and emotion regulation at the classroom level, CSRP support EF and literacy skills. We review each intervention’s
assigned mental health counselors to each classroom to help findings below, addressing these hypotheses.
teachers identify and minimize work-related stressors. Teachers The evaluation of the REDI curriculum with 44 Head Start
also learned new ways to structure cognitively engaging and classrooms and 356 four-year-old children indicated that the
emotionally supportive environments with the aim of making program improved EF as measured by task orientation (the
classrooms less chaotic, noisy, and emotionally distressing to assessor’s global rating of the child’s self-regulation) and
children (Li-Grining et al., 2010). Similarly, in Tools, teachers the dimensional change card sort task (Zelazo, 2006). These
learned strategies to make classrooms more engaging and spe- effects on EF partially mediated the intervention’s effects on
cific techniques for scaffolding children’s development of self- measures of emergent literacy skills including vocabulary, pho-
regulatory skills, which likely lessened the stress of deciding nological sensitivity, and letter knowledge (Bierman, Nix, et al.,
how to deal with dysregulated behavior and may have allowed 2008). Although REDI’s targeting of social-emotional compe-
teachers to respond in a more sensitive manner. tence and classroom structure to improve EF and achievement is
consistent with the bidirectional model, the multiple aspects of
Relation to the Bidirectional Model the program make it difficult to determine which ones may have
The structure of the interventions we described above can be led to improvements in EF. Improved classroom structure may
understood through the bidirectional model of self-regulation. have set the stage for EF, but it is also possible that the PATHS
From a bottom-up perspective, when classroom structure is con- program’s specific targeting of emotion regulation led to
sistent throughout the school year, children can learn appropriate improved EF. Alternatively, emotion regulation and classroom
behaviors; become better able to use language to plan, monitor, structure likely reciprocally influenced each other, and targeting
and reflect on the social and learning challenges they encounter both may have been necessary for improvements in EF. Thus,
during the school day; and focus their attention on learning Head Start REDI demonstrated that improving children’s EF
goals. Furthermore, when teachers regulate their own emotions, may be one mechanism by which interventions can enhance
attention, and cognition in order to interact with students in more school readiness but provides limited information on which
positive ways, they can make the classroom less stressful for program components helped improve EF.
themselves and their students. Thus, throughout the year, chil- The CSRP provided a more explicit test of the hypothesis that
dren become better at staying on task, inhibiting inappropriate creating a more emotionally positive, less stressful classroom

Child Development Perspectives, Volume 6, Number 2, 2012, Pages 122–128

126 Alexandra Ursache, Clancy Blair, and C. Cybele Raver

climate may improve EF. A cluster randomized design was used worked generally to improve school readiness through multiple
to evaluate CSRP with 543 children enrolled in 35 Head Start self-regulatory mechanisms that recognized the role of classroom
classrooms in Chicago. Control classrooms received a teacher’s management, the context dependence of self-regulation, and the
aide to address the concern that improvement in CSRP class- ways that emotional and cognitive forms of self-regulation are
rooms could be due purely to the teacher having another adult bidirectionally and reciprocally related. In short, a multidimen-
(the mental health counselor) to help manage the classroom. sional model of self-regulation helps to understand how interven-
At the end of 1 year of implementation, treatment group children tion programs such as REDI, CSRP, and Tools use bottom-up
scored significantly higher on a standardized battery of EF strategies to help children improve top-down processes of self-
assessments and were rated by the assessor as showing less regulation.
impulsivity and greater attention. These significant differences in When children use classroom supports to regulate emotion,
measures of self-regulation mediated the program effects on aca- attention, and stress, they are, on a neurological level, likely to
demic outcomes including vocabulary, letter naming, and math be at more optimal levels of arousal that could facilitate EF and
skills (Raver et al., 2011). Thus, CSRP provides evidence for the engagement in their learning activities. This focus on bottom-up
bidirectional model in that it successfully demonstrated that tar- support of EF, however, does not preclude the possibility of
geting classroom climate can lead to improvements in children’s improving EF through direct instruction, as was probably the
self-regulation skills including EF and thus to higher perfor- case with some activities in Tools. Furthermore, whether EF is
mance on academic outcomes. improved through direct instruction or through classroom sup-
The evaluation of the Tools curriculum also focused on EF as port, it is likely that this top-down self-regulation on an individ-
a mechanism of its effects on school readiness. Using a random- ual level then reciprocally improves bottom-up self-regulatory
ized, controlled design (Barnett et al., 2008; A. Diamond et al., processes for the whole classroom, as stressful conflicts between
2007) 274 preschool children from low-income families were students and between students and teachers may be avoided.
randomly assigned to 18 classrooms in which teachers were Through this reciprocal pathway, classrooms that set the stage
newly trained to use the Tools curriculum or the district’s newly for students to practice self-regulation skills could thus have
developed high-quality literacy curriculum. Program effects at lasting positive impacts on children’s school competence and
the end of 2 years for some children and 1 year for others indi- achievement.
cated that Tools may have improved classroom climate, as chil-
dren had lower teacher-reported behavior problems, were in
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