A meta-analysis of the validity of the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task in predicting young children's academic performance

Abstract

The present study represents the first meta-analytic synthesis of the utility of a widely used early-childhood self-regulation measure, the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task, in predicting children's academic achievement. A systematic review of the literature yielded 69 studies accessed from peer reviewed journals representing 413 effect sizes and 19,917 children meeting the complete set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Robust variance analysis demonstrated that the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task was a consistent predictor of children's academic achievement across literacy, oral language, and mathematical outcomes. A moderator analysis indicated that in accordance with prior research, the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task was more strongly associated with children's mathematics performance relative to their performance on language and literacy measures. The results of this meta-analysis suggest that the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task demonstrated statistically significant, positive associations with children's overall academic performance. These associations remained stable across different participant and measurement factors and are comparable to meta-analyses examining the self-regulation and academic association with multiple measures of self-regulation and executive function.

HTKS-Kids: A tablet-based self-regulation measure to equitably assess young children's school readiness

“…Given the cultural-embeddedness of self-regulation and its assessment, broadening the socio-demographic characteristics of children given HTKS-Kids is perhaps the most important. It is promising that the HTKS has been translated into 28 languages and used worldwide, and a meta-analysis indicated no differences in how well HTKS predicted young children's academic achievement by country or cultural context (Kenny et al, 2023 ). Collecting data with a larger sample of racially diverse children can help establish whether HTKS-Kids could mitigate implicit bias against Black children, which may contribute to the differences we found in teacher ratings of children's classroom self-regulation.…”

Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task and EF in two samples of adolescents in Brazil and United States

“…In this study, we investigated the initial variability and range in scores for Brazilian and US adolescent children on the HTKS, a well-validated measure of EF used in preschool and kindergarten populations. We also expanded past work with the HTKS (e.g., McClelland et al, 2014 ; Kenny et al, 2023 ) by creating an efficiency score, reducing the potential ceiling effects found with older populations. Results indicated that there was sufficient variability and range in HTKS efficiency scores, with the Brazilian and US sample scoring at the ceiling for only 2 and 4%, respectively.…”

“…The Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) task is a brief and easy-to-administer measure of EF that has been extensively used with preschool and kindergarten-age children ( Cameron Ponitz et al, 2007 ; McClelland et al, 2014 ; Kenny et al, 2023 ). The HTKS demonstrates strong reliability and validity ( McClelland et al, 2014 ) and is related to academic and health-related outcomes during early childhood ( Cameron Ponitz et al, 2009 ; Becker and Nader, 2021 ).…”

Physical Education and Gender Differences in Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior Related to Academic Success of Science-Related Courses for Children in the State of Qatar

“…However, these earlier researches did not take into account the broader notion of self-regulation because they solely looked at behavior regulation. Both behavior regulation and emotion regulation are included in the idea of self-regulation, and both are linked to children's academic success [94,95]. Consequently, it is crucial to understand the emotion regulation and contribution of behavior to gender differences in academic school achievement.…”