Agreement of Parent and Teacher Report on Executive Functioning Abilities of Preschool‐Aged Children Using the Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory

ABSTRACT

Strong early executive functioning (EF) skills have been tied to successful academic and social outcomes. Behaviour rating tools have commonly been used, as they capture multiple stakeholder perspectives. The current study aims to explore parent–teacher agreement on the Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI) for preschool‐aged children in Australia. Secondary data analysis was performed on cross‐sectional survey data collected on 213 children (55.5% male; M age in months = 64, SD = 4.8) from 88 Early Childhood Education services in Victoria, Australia. The sample was slightly more disadvantaged than the national average ( M SEIFA = 989.20, SD = 56.35). Parent–teacher agreement was measured using correlational analysis. Paired Samples t ‐tests were conducted to identify parent–teacher rater differences on specific CHEXI domains. Parent–teacher agreement ranged from small to moderate across the four CHEXI domains ( r _s  = 0.27–0.37, p  < 0.001). Parents tended to rate their children as higher in the regulation and inhibition subscales compared to teachers. No rater differences were found for the working memory and planning subscales. While respondent discrepancies are expected, this study offers novel insights into the patterns and potential reasons for parent–teacher disagreement, specifically on the CHEXI measure within an Australian preschool sample.