Oct 2, 2026 · 6 min · 5 segments
Working memory is just one of many factors impacting educational equality. Stay up to date with the latest research on child learning and development at boldscience.org…
A child's working memory capacity is linked to their school performance.
Working memory, holding and manipulating information in the mind, has many roles in the classroom.
It helps children keep track of and understand the meaning of a long sentence.
And remember the steps in a mathematical operation.
Children who grow up in families facing social and economic disadvantage tend to have less working memory capacity than their more advantaged peers.
On average, they have more difficulty keeping in mind and manipulating chunks of information.
Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds also tend to achieve lower grades at school.
We wondered whether this attainment gap could be linked to working memory.
With our colleagues, we sought to find out.
A child's working memory capacity is linked to their school performance.
Working memory, holding and manipulating information in the mind, has many roles in the classroom.
It helps children keep track of and understand the meaning of a long sentence.
And remember the steps in a mathematical operation.
Children who grow up in families facing social and economic disadvantage tend to have less working memory capacity than their more advantaged peers.
On average, they have more difficulty keeping in mind and manipulating chunks of information.
Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds also tend to achieve lower grades at school.
We wondered whether this attainment gap could be linked to working memory.
With our colleagues, we sought to find out.
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