Relationship between language skills and academic achievement in first grade

The ability of scores on the Early Prevention of School Failure battery to predict Stanford Achievement Test scores was examined. Participants included 280 first-grade students who were administered the battery at the beginning of kindergarten and the Stanford Achievement Test at the end of first grade. Principal factor analysis based on the oblique rotation exhibited simple structure between scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, the Preschool Language Scale, and the Stanford Achievement Test (verbal or language factor), with the Draw-A-Man test and the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration-Revised loading on a separate factor (motor factor). Results suggest that language-based skills were highly associated with later academic performance in school-aged children.