Executive Functions (EFs) describe a set of cognitive control abilities that help children to develop self-regulated behavior and do well in their schooling. The promotion of EFs in children at social risk is an area of relevance for neurosciences and education. On this basis, the present study set out to analyze a school-based intervention targeted to strengthening EFs in Argentine children at social risk. Participants were 69 children from 8 to 10 years old, from an urban-marginalized federal school in Mendoza. A quasi-experimental pre-test post-test design was used, with a control group. The cognitive intervention was embedded in the school curriculum and was carried out for a month and a half. The schoolchildren were evaluated before and after the intervention with EFs’ neuropsychological tests. The main results showed that the group cognitive intervention was associated with gains in the schoolchildren’s attention processes, although it did not favor other EFs, which could indicate moderate effectiveness. These data provide evidence in favor of ecological interventions as a way to promote attention development trajectories in children at social risk, and in turn, draw up guidelines to reflect on the design and the modalities of school-based interventions.

In this study I examine the academic self-concept (ASC) of students who changed from vocational to academic tracking at the transition to upper secondary education in Germany. I ask (1) how their ASC differs to the ASC of their established peers in academic tracking, and (2) how their ASC is affected by the change in the learning environment. Using a subsample of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS; N = 4109), findings show that newcomers to academic tracking have a stronger ASC than their peers. However, social differences between the social milieu of origin and the one prevailing at school significantly reduce the ASC. These differences are interpreted as being social-habitual and tested via socioeconomic status, cultural capital, and parental solidarity expectations at the school level. Results differ according to immigrant origin; immigrant newcomers to academic tracking have higher ASC than their established peers, and context effects are more influential. I complement previous research by using a quantitative approach to test the theoretical mechanisms of a qualitative research perspective on upward mobility.