Executive functioning skills and (low) mathematical achievement in primary and secondary school

Schoolchildren with better executive functioning skills achieve better mathematics results. It is less clear is how inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and working memory combine to predict mathematics achievement and difficulty throughout primary and secondary school. The study aimed to find the best combination of executive functions for predicting mathematical achievement at each school grade and to test whether this combination predicts the probability of having mathematical difficulties across school grades, even when fluid intelligence and processing speed were included in the models. A total of 426 students – 141 2nd graders (72 girls), 143 6th graders (72 girls), and 142 10th graders (79 girls) – were cross-sectionally assessed with 12 executive tasks, one standardized mathematical task, and a standardized test of intelligence. Bayesian regression analyses found various combinations of executive predictors of mathematical achievement for each school grade spanning grade 2 to measures of inhibition and cognitive flexibility; grade 6 to measures of inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and working memory; and grade 10 to measures of inhibition and working memory. Logistic regression showed that the executive models derived from the Bayesian analyses had a similar ability to classify students with mathematical difficulty and their peers with typical achievement to that of broader cognitive models that include fluid intelligence and processing speed. The study's main contribution was the identification of the specific roles of executive functions, fluid intelligence, and processing speed in predicting mathematical difficulties in each school grade. Identifying risk and protective factors has important practical implications when establishing preventive and intervention proposals.