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Recent research suggests that the etiology of reading achievement can differ across environmental contexts. In the US, schools are commonly assigned grades (e.g. "A," "B") often interpreted to indicate school quality. This study explored differences in the etiology of early literacy skills for students based on these school grades. Participants included twins drawn from the Florida Twin Project on Reading (n = 1313 pairs) aged 4 to 10 years during the 2006-07 school year. Early literacy skills were assessed with DIBELS subtests: Oral Reading Fluency (ORF), Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF), Initial Sound Fluency (ISF), Letter Naming Fluency (LNF), and Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF). School grade data were retrieved from the Florida Department of Education. Multi-group analyses were conducted separately for subsamples defined by "A" or "non-A" schools, controlling for school-level socioeconomic status. Results indicated significant etiological differences on pre-reading skills (ISF, LNF, and PSF), but not word-level reading skills (ORF and NWF). There was a consistent trend of greater environmental influences on pre-reading skills in non-A schools, arguably representing "poorer" environmental contexts than the A schools. Importantly, this is the case outside of resources linked with school-level SES, indicating that something about the direct environment on pre-reading skills in the non-A school context is more variable than for A schools.

This study explores the co-development of two related but separate reading skills, reading fluency and reading comprehension, across Grades 1-4. A bivariate biometric dual change score model was applied to longitudinal data collected from 1,784 twin pairs between the ages of 6 and 10 years. Grade 1 skills were influenced by highly overlapping genetic and environmental factors. Growth in both skills was influenced by highly overlapping shared environmental factors. Cross-lagged parameters indicated bidirectional effects, with stronger effects from fluency to comprehension change than from comprehension to fluency change.

The increasing adoption of open science practices in the last decade has been changing the scientific landscape across fields. However, developmental science has been argued to be relatively slow in adopting open science practices. One of the barriers to applying open science practices might be a lack of knowing 'how to start' among developmental researchers. To address this issue, we followed the format of Crüwell et al. (2019) and created summaries and an annotated list of informative and actionable resources discussing ten topics in developmental science: Open science practices; Issues with reproducibility and replication; Open data, materials and code; Open access; Preregistration; Registered reports; Replication; Incentives; Collaborative developmental science. This article offers researchers in developmental science a starting point for understanding how open science intersects with developmental science. After getting familiarized with this article, developmental scientists should understand the core tenets of open and reproducible developmental science, and feel motivated to start applying open science practices in their workflow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research suggests that reading comprehension test performance does not rely solely on targeted cognitive processes such as word reading, but also on other nontarget aspects such as test anxiety. Using a genetically sensitive design, we sought to understand the genetic and environmental etiology of the association between test anxiety and reading comprehension as measured by a high-stakes test. Mirroring the behavioral literature of test anxiety, three different dimensions of test anxiety were examined in relation to reading comprehension--namely, intrusive thoughts, autonomic reactions, and off-task behaviors. Participants included 425 sets of twins from the Florida Twin Project on Reading. The results indicated test anxiety was negatively associated with reading comprehension test performance, specifically through common shared environmental influences. The significant contribution of test anxiety to reading comprehension on a high-stakes test supports the notion that nontargeted factors might interfere with accurately assessing students' reading abilities.

Underperformance in math is a problem with increasing prevalence, complex etiology, and severe repercussions. This study examined the etiological heterogeneity of math performance in a sample of 264 pairs of 12-year-old twins assessed on measures of math achievement, numerosity, and math anxiety. Latent profile analysis indicated 5 groupings of individuals representing different patterns of math achievement, numerosity, and math anxiety, coupled with differing degrees of familial transmission. These results suggest that there may be distinct profiles of math achievement, numerosity, and anxiety, particularly for students who struggle in math.

The present study employed data simulation techniques to investigate the 1-year stability of alternative classification schemes for identifying children with reading disabilities. Classification schemes investigated include low performance, unexpected low performance, dual-discrepancy, and a rudimentary form of constellation model of reading disabilities that included multiple criteria. Data from a previously published study were used to construct a growth model of reading development. The parameters estimated from this model were then used to construct three simulated data sets wherein the growth parameters were manipulated in one of three ways: a stable-growth pattern, a mastery learning pattern, and a fan-spread pattern. Results indicated that overall the constellation model provided the most stable classifications across all conditions of the simulation, and that classification schemes were most stable in the fan-spread condition and were the least stable under the mastery learning growth pattern. These results also demonstrate the utility of data simulations in reading research.

Previous literature has indicated an important association between reading comprehension and both attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and homework habits. This investigation sought to extend previous knowledge by providing information about how ADHD and homework behavior (i.e., completing homework regularly) may jointly influence reading comprehension. Using a genetically sensitive design, this study examined the genetic and environmental influences on and between ADHD, homework behavior and reading comprehension. Participants for this study included 691 twin pairs (351 monozygotic, 340 same-sex dizygotic) from the Florida Twin Project on Behavior and Environment (FTP-BE) and 2647 twin pairs (865 monozygotic, 1782 dizygotic) from the larger Florida Twin Project on Reading (FTP-R) in Grades 3 through 7. Three separate models, each representing a different definition of ADHD (full ADHD, inattention only, and hyperactivity/impulsivity only), showed similar patterns of results; therefore, results of the full ADHD model are discussed. Overlapping genetic influences were found between ADHD, homework behavior, and reading comprehension, but no shared environmental influences among all three. However, shared environmental influences overlapped between homework behavior and reading comprehension. Although the sources of this environmental overlap are unknown, these results have implications for improving homework practices and their subsequent influence on literacy skills through homework environments.

Background: Emerging work suggests that academic achievement may be influenced by the management of affect as well as through efficient information processing of task demands. In particular, mathematical anxiety has attracted recent attention because of its damaging psychological effects and potential associations with mathematical problem solving and achievement. This study investigated the genetic and environmental factors contributing to the observed differences in the anxiety people feel when confronted with mathematical tasks. In addition, the genetic and environmental mechanisms that link mathematical anxiety with math cognition and general anxiety were also explored. Methods: Univariate and multivariate quantitative genetic models were conducted in a sample of 514 12-year-old twin siblings. Results: Genetic factors accounted for roughly 40% of the variation in mathematical anxiety, with the remaining being accounted for by child-specific environmental factors. Multivariate genetic analyses suggested that mathematical anxiety was influenced by the genetic and nonfamilial environmental risk factors associated with general anxiety and additional independent genetic influences associated with math-based problem solving. Conclusions: The development of mathematical anxiety may involve not only exposure to negative experiences with mathematics, but also likely involves genetic risks related to both anxiety and math cognition. These results suggest that integrating cognitive and affective domains may be particularly important for mathematics and may extend to other areas of academic achievement.

Background: Influential work has explored the role of family socioeconomic status (SES) as an environmental moderator of genetic and environmental influences on cognitive outcomes. This work has provided evidence that socioeconomic circumstances differentially impact the heritability of cognitive abilities, generally supporting the bioecological model in that genetic influences are greater at higher levels of family SES. The present work expanded consideration of the environment, using school-level SES as a moderator of reading comprehension. Methods: The sample included 577 pairs of twins from the Florida Twin Project on Reading, Behavior and Environment. Reading comprehension was measured by the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT) Reading in third or fourth grade. School-level SES was measured by the mean Free and Reduced Lunch Status (FRLS) of the schoolmates of the twins. Results: The best-fitting univariate G × E moderation model indicated greater genetic influences on reading comprehension when fewer schoolmates qualified for FRLS (i.e., "higher" school-level SES). There was also an indication of moderation of the shared environment; there were greater shared environmental influences on reading comprehension at higher school-level SES. Conclusions: The results supported the bioecological model; greater genetic variance was found in school environments in which student populations experienced less poverty. In general, "higher" school-level SES allowed genetic and probably shared environmental variance to contribute as sources of individual differences in reading comprehension outcomes. Poverty suppresses these influences.

Research on the development of reading skills through the primary school years has pointed to the importance of individual differences in initial ability as well as the growth of those skills. Additionally, it has been theorized that reading skills develop incrementally. The present study examined the genetic and environmental influences on 2 developmental models representing these parallel ideas, generalizing the findings to explore the processes of reading development. Participants were drawn from the Florida Twin Project on Reading, with a total of 2,370 pairs of twins representative of the state of Florida. Twins' oral reading fluency scores from school progress monitoring records collected in the fall of Grades 1-5 were used to model development. Results suggested that genetic influences on the development of reading are general, shared across the early school years, as well as novel, with new genetic influences introduced at each of the first 3 years of school. The shared environment estimates suggest a pattern of general influences only, suggesting environmental effects that are moderate and stable across development.

The co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing disorders suggests that they may have common underlying vulnerability factors. Research has shown that negative affect is moderately positively correlated with both internalizing and externalizing disorders in children. The present study is the first to provide an examination of negative affect in relation to a wide spectrum of childhood internalizing and externalizing problems using a biometric model. This study extends prior findings of more narrowly focused associations by using a factor approach including multiple disorders. The sample for this study included families of 691 same-sex 7- to 13-year old twin pairs. A multifactorial independent pathway model was used to examine the genetic and environmental influences underlying the covariation of parent-reported negative affect, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing symptoms. Results of the current study suggest that negative affect shares genetic and environmental influences with both internalizing and externalizing disorders in childhood. These common influences may partially explain their comorbidity. Understanding that negative affect is at least one contributor to the covariation among these disorders may highlight avenues for early risk assessment, intervention, and perhaps prevention.

This study introduces a co-twin control method commonly used in the medical literature but not often within educational research. This method allows for a comparison of twins discordant for an "exposure," approximating alternative outcomes in the counterfactual model. Example analyses use data drawn from the Florida Twin Project on Reading to determine whether exposure to "teacher quality," measured by growth in oral reading fluency (ORF) scores of classmates, causally affects ORF performance of twins in the subsequent years. The analysis highlights PROC MIXED in SAS, including a novel expansion to allow for the nested data. Results from 2,788 twins suggested that being in classrooms with lower teacher quality in first grade leads to lower ORF scores in second and third grade with little indication of possible genetic or environmental confounding. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

The development of reading skills in typical students is commonly described as a rapid growth across early grades of active reading education, with a slowing down of growth as active instruction tapers. This study examined the extent to which genetics and environments influence these growth rates. Participants were 371 twin pairs, aged approximately 6 through 12, from the Western Reserve Reading Project. Development of word-level reading, reading comprehension, and rapid naming was examined using genetically sensitive latent quadratic growth curve modeling. Results confirmed the developmental trajectory described in the phenotypic literature. Furthermore, the same shared environmental influences were related to early reading skills and subsequent growth, but genetic influences on these factors were unique.

This article proposes the Precision Education Initiative, which is the tailoring of education to the specific characteristics of the individual student. Mirroring precision medicine, the author lays out both near-term and longer term goals that educational research, and importantly educational practice, should follow.

The authors examined whether math fluency was independent from untimed math and from reading using 314 pairs of school-aged twins drawn from the Western Reserve Reading and Math Projects. Twins were assessed through a 90-min home visit at approximately age 10 and were reassessed in their homes approximately 1 year later. Results suggested that the shared environment and genetics influenced the covariance among math fluency, untimed math measures, and reading measures. However, roughly two thirds of the variance in math fluency was independent from untimed math measures and reading, including reading fluency. The majority of this independent variance was the result of genetic factors that were longitudinally stable across two measurement occasions. These results suggest that math fluency, although related to other math measures, may also be a genetically distinct dimension of mathematics performance. (Contains 4 tables and 3 figures.)