TOPIC: EFFECTIVENESS OF DEVELOPED COGNITIVE ABILITIES ON ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE OF A CHILD IN SCHOOL.

Academic performance can be important for a child. Better academic performance may open doors for
academic success later in life and for a better education. This is why it is important to understand what
factors may contribute to a good academic performance. One of these factors is developed cognitive
skills.

Cognitive skills are the core skills the brain uses to process information, learn, remember, and focus. It
involves processes that are used every day and that play a big role in a formal learning process too.
There are different cognitive skills. Some of these are associated with attention, like selective and
sustained attention. Selective attention allows an individual to focus on a task without paying attention
to the distractions, while sustained attention is associated with the ability to stay focused for a
significant period of time. Cognitive skills are associated with memory too. There is long-term
memory, which allows people to recall events and ideas, and working memory, which allows someone
to keep in mind the things they are working with while they are using them. Another skill is processing
speed that determines how quickly the person can perform tasks.

Cognitive skills are associated with academic performance. Let's take a look at the relationship
between the two.

A study done with over one thousand 8th grade students found that cognitive skills predicted academic
performance. The study also found that schools did not improve cognitive skills, although they could
improve academic performance (Finn et al., 2014).
Another study considered working memory and attention control and their link to emergent literacy and
numeracy in pre-kindergarten children. The study found that working memory and attention control
predicted the development of these skills and the achievements the children showed upon entering
kindergarten. Cognitive skills were found to contribute significantly to academic learning from an early
age (Welsh et al., 2010).

Another study tried to find the link between general cognitive ability and specific cognitive abilities
and academic achievement. It considered measures like working memory and processing speed.
General cognitive ability was associated with academic achievement, and specific cognitive skills were
linked to higher test scores (Rhode & Thompson, 2007).
Another study done with adolescents between 14 and 17 also examined specific cognitive skills and
academic performance. At least two cognitive processes, like sustained attention and language were
associated with a higher academic performance (Puerta, 2015).
 Performance and Cognitive Skills
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
Coefcient estimates

0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
Worki ng Memory/Spel li ng Learni ng/Readng
Worki ng Memory/Rea di ng Vi s ual Spatia l Ski l l s/Ari methic

Figure 1. Performance and Cognitive Skills data. (Bangirana, Menk, John, Boivin, & Hodges, 2013).

A study focusing on children who have survived a cerebral insult found that working memory was
linked with reading and spelling, while visual spatial skills were linked to arithmetic. Learning was
linked to reading. Cognitive abilities like working memory and visual spatial ability were the best
predictors of performance. As can be seen on the chart, working memory was the best predictor for
academic performance, according to the estimated coefficients (Bangirana, Menk, John, Boivin, &
Hodges, 2013).
Overall, there is significant evidence to suggest that cognitive skills predict academic performance.
Specific skills are associated with better performance at different ages and even in cases where overall
brain function has been affected. Cognitive skills can predict performance in relation to math skills or
reading in younger children, but are also associated with performance in adolescents. Cognitive skills
appear to help significantly throughout an individual's life.
This suggests that cognitive skills are associated with academic performance as seen in specific
aspects, like reading, and with standardized test scores. Developing cognitive skills can be a way to
improve academic performance and enhance the child's academic experience.

References

Bangirana, P., Menk, J., John, C., Boivin, M., & Hodges, J. (2013). The Association between Cognition
and Academic Performance in Ugandan Children Surviving Malaria with Neurological
Involvement. Plos ONE, 8(2), e55653. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0055653

Finn, A. S., Kraft, M. A., West, M. R., Leonard, J. A., Bish, C. E., Martin, R. E., … Gabrieli, J. D. E.
(2014). Cognitive Skills, Student Achievement Tests, and Schools. Psychological Science, 25(3), 736–
744. http://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613516008
Puerta, L. (2015). Relationship between cognitive processes and academic performance in high school
students. Psychologia, 9(2), 85. http://dx.doi.org/10.21500/19002386.1816

Rohde, T., & Thompson, L. (2007). Predicting academic achievement with cognitive
ability. Intelligence, 35(1), 83-92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2006.05.004

Welsh, J. A., Nix, R. L., Blair, C., Bierman, K. L., & Nelson, K. E. (2010). The Development of
Cognitive Skills and Gains in Academic School Readiness for Children from Low-Income
Families. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(1), 43–53. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0016738