Back to school: Teachers’ initial perceptions of students’ executive function behaviors are important for teacher–student relationships and executive function development

The transition to upper-elementary school marks an important shift when students are expected to independently manage their behaviors, attention, and engagement. The current study used a socioeconomically- and racially/ethnically-diverse sample of upper-elementary school students (N = 336, Mage = 9.85 years). Results showed that teachers' initial perceptions of students' executive function (EF) behaviors as indexed by how well students adjusted to new situations, remembered multi-step activities, and stayed focused were related to their reports of conflict with students in the spring. Furthermore, teacher–student conflict was linked with teacher-reported EF behaviors in the spring, controlling for EF behaviors in the fall. Finally, teachers' initial perceptions of students' EF behaviors were associated with children's performance on EF tasks in the spring, controlling for direct assessment of EF skills in the fall. Our findings emphasize the role of early teacher perceptions for the development of teacher–student relationships and children's self-regulation skills during the school year.