Steven Howard

My research investigates the development of children’s self-regulation, executive functions, and related abilities (e.g., school readiness), and the real-world implications of these changing abilities. In relation to this program of research I have conducted meta-analyses, systematic reviews, and original research on development, antecedents, outcomes, interventions, and assessment of these abilities. I have led or been CI on teams that have secured $65M+ in research funding from national competitive (i.e., ARC DECRA, ARC Future Fellowship, ARC Centre of Excellence, ARC Discovery, NHMRC Ideas), international competitive (e.g., Education Endowment Foundation, British Academy, NESTA), government (e.g., NSW Department of Education), sector (e.g., Goodstart Early Learning) and philanthropic grants (e.g., Dusseldorp Foundation, Nuffield Foundation). I am a current ARC Future Fellow and member of the ARC College of Experts. I am also a member of the Global Executive Function Initiative, since its formation in 2023 (gefi.stanford.edu). I have led design and validation of internationally adopted measures of young children’s emerging abilities (e.g., executive function, self-regulation, numeracy, language); collectively, under the banner of the Early Years Toolbox, these measures have been accessed by >20,000 users across 65+ countries and 5 continents, and have been translated into more than a 16 languages. Related to this expertise, I am a member of the team that is conducting a national evaluation of Australia's Preschool Outcome Measure, progress toward which commenced in 2024. Child and adolescent development, Educational psychology, Early childhood education, Testing, assessment and psychometrics, Cognition, Education assessment and evaluation