Preschool Teacher Ratings Predict Longitudinal Academic Performance Better Than Parent Reports

Preschool teacher ratings of executive functioning difficulties prospectively predict lower academic proficiency across reading, writing, oral language, mathematics, and science four years later, outperforming parent reports once both measures are considered, according to a longitudinal study published in Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Hierarchical ordinal logistic regressions revealed that although parent-reported difficulties initially provided incremental predictive information beyond performance-based tests, these parent associations were substantially attenuated once teacher evaluations were incorporated into the statistical models.

The investigation, conducted by Grazia Maria Giovanna Pastorino and colleagues from the University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro and the University of Salerno in Italy, tracked 211 preschool children with a mean age of 4.34 years. At baseline, the children completed performance-based executive function tasks using the Battery for the Assessment of Executive Functions (BAFE), while parents and teachers independently assessed behavioral manifestations of executive difficulties using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function–Preschool Version (BRIEF-P). Four years later, complete longitudinal evaluation data across six learning domains—reading, writing, oral language, numbers, space and geometry, and science—were gathered for 191 children.

The analyses revealed significant but modest convergence between parent and teacher ratings, alongside limited direct associations between performance-based tasks and informant behavioral ratings. While performance-based visuospatial working memory remained independently associated with later mathematics outcomes in numbers and geometry, informant ratings contributed distinct predictive utility across academic areas. In particular, teacher-reported executive functioning difficulties demonstrated consistent incremental associations with lower academic proficiency across all six evaluated school subjects.

The researchers concluded that performance-based tasks and informant-reported behavioral measures provide complementary value in assessing early childhood executive functioning. However, the authors highlighted that the consistent prospective associations observed for teacher-reported difficulties must be interpreted cautiously, emphasizing the contextual overlap between preschool teacher observations in classroom settings and subsequent school-based academic evaluations.

Subject of Research: Predictive validity of preschool executive function assessments for later academic proficiency

Article Title: Preschool executive functions and longitudinal school functioning: the incremental contributions of performance-based, parent- and teacher-reported measures

Article References: Pastorino, G. M. G., Aquino, A., Vitale, P., de Simone, V., Marciano, J., Olivieri, M., Suriano, R., Mungo, N., & Operto, F. F. (2026). Preschool executive functions and longitudinal school functioning: the incremental contributions of performance-based, parent- and teacher-reported measures. Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 5, Article 1980617. https://doi.org/10.3389/frcha.2026.1980617

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/frcha.2026.1980617

Keywords: executive functions, preschool education, academic achievement, longitudinal study, teacher ratings, working memory, BRIEF-P, child development, Preschool, executive, functions, longitudinal