Predicting school achievement: Differential effects of dynamic testing measures and cognitive flexibility for math performance

Abstract

Dynamic testing aims to assess potential for learning by measuring performance improvement as a response to training while testing. Dynamic test outcomes have been argued to be related to children's present and future achievements at school. The current study aimed to investigate whether dynamic measures of inductive reasoning would provide additional predictive value of math achievement while taking into account static inductive reasoning performance. In addition, as cognitive flexibility, one of the core executive functions, has been argued to be significantly involved in children's math performance, it was explored whether dynamic test outcomes would hold unique predictive value for math achievement while taking into account cognitive flexibility. Participants were 152 six- and seven-year-old children who were administered either a dynamic test of series completion comprising a pre-test training post-test format or a static series completion test consisting of a pre- and post-test, in combination with a test of cognitive flexibility. Children in the experimental, dynamic test condition were trained in series completion, while the children in the control condition only practiced series completion. The dynamic measures of inductive reasoning and cognitive flexibility were each found to provide additional predictive value to static pre-test performance and to hold unique predictive value for math achievement. The results underline the importance of both dynamic testing and cognitive flexibility in educational assessment and suggest that the assessment of cognitive flexibility should be an integral part of dynamic testing.