PASS Theory of Intelligence and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Review

Abstract

Although Planning, Attention, Simultaneous and Successive (PASS) processing theory of intelligence has been argued to offer an alternative look at intelligence and PASS processes – operationalized with the Cognitive Assessment System – have been used in several studies, it remains unclear how well the PASS processes relate to academic achievement. Thus, this study aimed to estimate the size of their relation by conducting a meta-analysis. To select the studies for the meta-analysis, I conducted an electronic database search (e.g., ERIC, PubMed, PsycINFO), an ancestral search, and also reviewed book chapters, dissertations, and interpretive and technical manuals. A total of 62 studies, involving 13,356 participants, met the inclusionary criteria. A random-effects model analysis of data from 62 studies with 93 independent samples revealed a moderate-to-strong relation between PASS processes and reading, r = .409, 95% CI = [ .363, .454]), and mathematics, r = .461, CI = [ .405, .517]. Moderator analyses further showed that (1) PASS processes were more strongly related with reading and mathematics in English than in other languages, (2) Simultaneous processing was more strongly related to mathematics accuracy and problem solving than mathematics fluency, (3) Simultaneous processing was more strongly related to problem solving than Attention, and (4) Planning was more strongly related to mathematics fluency than Simultaneous processing. Age, grade level, and sample characteristics did not moderate the PASS-reading/mathematics relation. Taken together, these findings suggest that PASS cognitive processes are significant correlates of academic achievement, but their relation may be affected by the language in which the study is conducted and the type of mathematics outcome.