What is Executive Function?
Hear from our co-founder, Dr. Phil Zelazo, about the basics of Executive Function.
Learn how Executive Function can help you manage your classroom.
It isn’t bad behavior or bad teaching, it’s about the Executive Function development of your students.
In this FREE, 15-minute course, find out what Executive Function is, how it plays a major role in academic and SEL success, and how to support its development in your classroom. Educators already have a tough job, let’s make it a little easier.
To learn more about our Professional Development options, check out our Understand page.
Module 1: What is Executive Function?
Executive Function is a set of skills that helps the brain organize and act on information, pay attention, plan, remember things, prioritize, and stay on task. Research has shown that Executive Function is one of the best predictors of school and learning readiness, long-term academic success, and overall wellbeing. Although children are not born with Executive Function skills, they possess the ability to develop them. These skills, too, can improve over time! Based on the science of brain plasticity, we know that by using our brains in certain ways, we actually change our brains so that it becomes easier to use them that way again in the future. That means we can improve children’s Executive Function by regularly incorporating EF challenging games and learning activities into classrooms of all ages.Your Learning Objectives for this Module are:
- Define Executive Function (EF) skills
- Understand how EF and SEL are related and are foundational for future success in school and life
- Describe the difference between hot and cool EF
Executive Function Basics
Executive Function is a distinct set of skills imperative to school readiness and academic success. Scientists refer to these skills as the biological foundation for adaptation and learning throughout life. They argue that strong working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control provide the basis upon which children’s abilities to learn to read, write, and do math can be built.
This so-called Air Traffic Control System supports the process of learning— focusing, remembering, planning (i.e., the how)—that enables children to effectively and efficiently master the content of learning—reading, writing, computation (i.e., the what).
In order for children to participate in the school experience as engaged, active, and competent learners and thus acquire relevant life knowledge and adaptation, these skills need to be developed and supported from infancy through adolescence.
Cool and Hot EF
Executive Function in the Real World
Researchers have found some interesting differences in how EF skills work in the real world. These differences relate to how our emotions and motivation influence our EF skills in different contexts. This distinction is called Cool and Hot Executive Function.Cool Executive Function
Executive Function is considered “cool” in situations where stakes are low and there is no emotional or motivational context.
Example: Think about practicing a musical instrument, like a piano. If it is a regular day of practice and there is no serious motivation to do perfectly while playing, the task relies predominantly on “cooler” EF skills.Hot Executive Function
The more “hot” an Executive Function task is, the more effort you have to put into managing your emotion, stress, or other reward-driven emotions or behaviors during the task. This applies during situations that are either emotionally or motivationally significant.Example: If we tied a monetary reward to playing the piano (e.g. if you can play the piece of music without any mistakes in under 15 seconds, then you will win $1,000), this previously cool task will become more “hot”. Now, the accuracy of your playing will determine whether you receive the money or not.
By helping create situations that stay within the cool zone, children are able to approach and address problems more calmly. This is also how you can de-escalate moments when children seem to be losing control.How are SEL and EF Related?
Success in life depends on two essential sets of abilities: academic and social-emotional. EF skills are the root of BOTH of these abilities.
Not only does EF relate to school readiness, but, understandably, many studies show ties between EF and academic achievement once children are actually in elementary school. For example, children with higher EF show greater gains in math between K and 1st grade. In addition, EF scores are also related to math and literacy skills for older children – with those who have greater EF being better at math and reading.CASEL and Executive Function
Below is a rough alignment between the CASEL framework and Executive Function skills. Without a strong base in EF, SEL competence is at risk.
Module 2: Why Focus on Executive Function?
When students have opportunities to grow and improve Executive Function skills and social-emotional competencies, individuals and society benefit. These skills are crucial for academic and lifelong success. They also enable positive behavior and allow students to make healthy choices.Your Learning Objectives for this Module are:
- Understand what EF looks like in the daily routines of children and your classroom.
- Explore how EF shows up in today’s popular media.
“Teachers can be models of the hard work, desire for learning, and self-control that we expect our children to learn and display.”
Great Oaks Legacy Charter School
Executive Function at School
Executive Function skills are skills that help adults (and students) achieve goals. In order to be effective, teachers must be able to manage their emotions, focus their attention on multiple situations, organize and plan instruction, and reflect upon and revise all that is happening in a classroom depending on successes and failures. As the demands of school increase each year, teachers’ own Executive Function skills become critical. Teachers rely daily on their own Executive Function skills including:- Responding to challenging interaction – resist impulses, reflect on options, keep the big picture in mind
- Providing effective directions – try a new approach when a particular strategy is not working
- Shifting between work and home life – build routines or transitions into the daily structure
- Modeling SEL skills for children – display of empathy and acceptance of others’ emotions
- Engaging in “serve and return” with children – creative questioning to involve and engage family members with events and information
Executive Function in Our Daily Lives
Executive Function predicts an individual’s well-being in all aspects of life — social mobility, physical and mental health, not to mention avoiding risky behaviors that may lead to heavy consequences. Because of the lack of awareness regarding EF skills, we often miss how it appears in our daily lives. For instance, imagine you’re sitting in a doctor’s waiting room or the stands at a sporting event. When you look around, you see some kids focused on screens while others are like jumping beans and their parents are doing all they can to keep them from annoying folks around them. Which type of behavior is doing more to develop and strengthen EF skills? Some of Hollywood’s Blockbuster Films have scenes that emphasize the importance of EF skills through the choice of leading characters and their traits.Cognitive Flexibility – Example 1
In the movie Men in Black, Will Smith is run through a series of tests to determine whether or not he is qualified to become Agent G. Here is the video clip of the first test. What seems like a typical paper and pencil aptitude assessment is really a measure of cognitive flexibility. Of all six participants, only one breaks the unwritten rule and uses the table as a writing surface. The decision to solve the writing problem by creating a desk demonstrates high an EF skill level and makes the character more desirable as a detective.Cognitive Flexibility – Example 2
Apollo 13, the story of a famous space mission, embeds many scenarios where were it not for the problem-solving capacity of the team, people would have died in space. These both may be fictional examples, however, the more we are aware of Executive Function in all aspects of our lives – family, entertainment, work, etc. – the better we are at spotting it and thus integrating it into our classrooms with students. Sometimes the best results are achieved through unintentional moments.Module 3: Measuring Executive Function
By knowing the Executive Function level of the students in your classroom, you are better equipped to adjust instructional strategies for those who need intervention most.Here are Your Learning Objectives:
- Describe how EF assessments can help to identify children’s strengths and areas for improvement
- Learn about a direct assessment that measures Executive Function
Why Measure Executive Function?
There are so many reasons to measure and address Executive Function skills!
EF skills show both long-term stability across development as well as the potential for change. This means, that if gone unaddressed a child with low EF scores in preschool may also have low standardized test scores in high school.
However, if steps are taken to improve EF scores early – either by using intervention activities and training or by addressing environmental influences on EF – then the long-term outcomes of the child may also improve.
Knowing a child’s EF level can help to:
- Determine school readiness and identify delays/deficits for further testing or extra support
- Plan activities and learning experiences that support the development of EF
- Measure the effectiveness of programs and activities designed to promote EF development
- Track an individual’s growth in EF over time
- Evaluate classroom environments from the perspective of research-based practices
- Promote reflection, dialogue, and discussion among teachers and administrators
- Engage in internal self-assessment, improvement, and planning
- Provide useful information for communication with parents and prospective parents
How to Measure Executive Function
Direct Assessments of Executive Function Skills
Direct assessments are those that measure student abilities by examining a student’s performance on a task. Indirect methods, like parent questionnaires, teacher checklists, observations, etc., can be informative and valuable but are often lengthy and subject to bias (often unintentionally). There are several indirect assessments for EF and SEL, however, a direct assessment score can be more valuable in determining how to best create an intervention plan if necessary for students lagging behind in development.The FREE EFgo™ Executive Function Direct Assessment
Reflection Sciences has developed a valid, reliable, standardized assessment of EF skills for children two (2) years old and above. EFgo™ is a 5-minute adaptive, web-based card-sorting game administered one-on-one with young children (under age 12) or self-administered for older children and adults. EFgo™ asks children to sort virtual cards into boxes based on features such as size, shape, or color. Scores are based on accuracy and time. Key features of EFgo™:- Suitable for ages 2 and up
- Available in English and Spanish
- Quick administration (average = 4 min 15 seconds)
- Multiple forms for repeated administration (e.g., to measure change)
- Automated scoring, adaptive to an individual’s performance
- Normed (U.S. national + local to each organization)
- Reliable and Validated
- Data is immediately available through the online portal
- Clear guidelines for interpretation
Start Measuring for FREE now!
You can also learn more about integrating EF assessment data with your current classroom data in our course Understanding Your Executive Function DataModule 4: Supporting Executive Function Development
In order to maximize learning time in classrooms, it is important to know and understand the Executive Function level your children are working at. You can do this by using our EFgo™ assessment. Once aware of the various skill levels present, you can personalize and modify Executive Function activities to best support all children in your classroom.
Your Learning Objectives for this Module are:
- Describe some basic strategies when planning for practice opportunities
- Implement the classroom activity strategies with your students
Strategies for EF Success
Understanding and embracing the opportunity to help in the development of Executive Function skills in your classroom is a wonderful place to start.Improving Executive Function
As humans, we learn through experience, and our brains and our abilities change with that experience, which is one reason why EF skills are teachable. Researchers investigating the effects of EF intervention efforts have found that children and adults can and do, in fact, respond to EF training. Executive Function and actual brain activity change and improve with intervention and practice.Planning
EF support doesn’t have to be extravagant activities or new curriculum. Instead, think of ways EF can be added to the current time you spend with your children. Brainstorm simple ways to embed and integrate EF support during normal instructional time. For example, with young children, an activity about numbers and counting might involve counting by twos. Try adding an EF-building twist: have children alternate between loud and soft voices while they count (“two, FOUR, six, EIGHT, ten”). The following is a brief list of ideas for educators to use when looking to help support the development of EF at home:- Encourage children to identify and label emotions (and validate them!)
- Provide opportunities for conflict resolution – discuss strategies, roadblocks, plans, etc. for real scenarios that children have experienced
- Allow for, acknowledge, and reframe “failures” to help encourage a growth mindset
- Promote perspective-taking
- Allow time for children to share personal experiences and connect
- Incorporate simple mindfulness activities throughout the day
- Help children recognize the connection between emotions and decision making, and how this can affect social relationships
- Incorporate new and interesting ways to start an activity
- Build curiosity over time
- Plan and allow for creative ways to document, express, communicate, and demonstrate learning at home
- Refer to and incorporate additional elements from new, hands-on learning approaches like play-planning and learning journals
Executive Function Classroom Activities Guide
Reflection Sciences’ Executive Function Classroom Activities Guides provide many more specific strategies and fun activities and games. You can find this on our Activities page along with other resources.Putting it All Together
Keep in Mind
Executive Function skills allow both children and adults to make better decisions in general. They also help to keep them on a positive developmental trajectory in many domains in life, leading to greater success in school as well as more positive relationships with peers and adults.
In young children, they are the essential self-regulating skills that we all use every day to accomplish just about everything. As children get older, it helps them plan, organize, make decisions, shift between situations or thoughts, control emotions and impulsivity, and learn from past mistakes. Kids rely on EF skills for everything from taking a shower to packing a backpack and choosing what to eat for lunch.
They allow for a more intentional, engaged, active, and reflective form of learning. Because of this, it is important for you to continually challenge them with age-appropriate support during both structured and informal learning time.
Remember, EF takes time to fully develop, and it develops at different rates in different children. The brain is constantly growing and changing in all children, infants through adolescence, and because of its plasticity and an enormous capacity for learning, it is possible to improve the EF skills in children at all grade levels.