California must teach students the tools to guide their own learning

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OPINION — Beya rushes in a few minutes after her English class starts. I watch her rifling through crumpled loose papers piled next to a binder with broken rings, and searching for a missing library book needed for her reading log. The checklist of reminders I sent home to support her organization is somewhere in the pile, or still unopened in an email.

A ninth grader, Beya is conscientious and bright, but disorganization, working memory challenges and difficulty focusing hold her back. Beya does not lack intelligence or motivation. She lacks direct, regular instruction and support in executive functioning. Beya, and so many other students, are expected to show up, engage, and be responsible in an education system that is often confusing and opaque.  

Executive function skills, such as working memory, managing attention, and task initiation and planning, are foundational to academic success. California’s State Board of Education recently adopted Portrait of a Learner, a vision for the skills students need to thrive, and at the core of each one are executive functions. Now the state has an opportunity to invest in the systems that will help schools make that vision a reality.

However, executive functioning is not consistently addressed through state standards or teacher preparation programs. 

Decades of research underscore that strong executive function skills have a direct bearing on school readiness, academic achievement and social success. We would not expect students to master chemistry or writing without guided learning, so why do we expect our students to understand executive function skills without direct instruction and repeated practice? These skills help students like Beya gain independence in their learning and lives when regularly and explicitly taught, supported and developed. 

I don’t teach executive functioning as a separate subject. I build it into the academic work my students are already doing. Like many teachers, I start the year by establishing predictable routines students can rely on. Generally, each day, week and assignment follows an expected schedule. Once students can rest in the familiarity of the routine, they have more mental energy to focus on learning. 

Throughout the year, I work with students to identify what they want to learn in the class, what they hope to accomplish, and possible barriers and distractions that might get in their way throughout the school year. As a class we brainstorm strategies to support their learning goals.

I often find that ideas students discover themselves or those that come from classmates are the most impactful. After an assignment or lesson, I build in metacognition time for students to reflect on questions about their learning process, such as: “What worked for you here? Or What strategy were you using to help you get that done?” Students try a strategy, reflect, adjust and try again. The purpose is not to do it right, but to try something new, stretch themselves and even mess up. Over time, these short, repeated reflections help students understand themselves as learners and take ownership of their learning as they take on new academic challenges.  

As a high school education specialist, I work with Beya several times a week to support her Individualized Education Plan (IEP) goals while also helping her with organization, planning and other executive function skills. The truth is, Beya, and many students in both special and general education, need far more support in executive functioning than occasional meetings with specialists or enrichment programs can provide. Though these targeted programs and specialists help tremendously, students spend most of their day in general education classrooms. Without daily reinforcement, a lack of executive function skills continues to impede academic success. 

General education classrooms can build executive function skills into assignments and grading. For example, including drafts of long-term assignments in the gradebook and pairing them with reflection can help students practice planning and self-monitoring. 

California’s commitment to the science of reading shows that instructional change is possible when research and policy align. Executive functioning supports early literacy and should be part of that work. The importance of executive function skills extends beyond the early grades and literacy. State leaders should invest in coaching and resources that help teachers explicitly teach and reinforce executive function skills from early childhood education through high school to strengthen literacy instruction and ensure California’s Portrait of a Learner becomes a reality. 

Imagine Beya confidently arriving at class with an organized binder full of last night’s finished homework, a completed reading log, and a plan for how she will tackle the upcoming week’s assignments. When students are taught how to learn, overwhelm becomes more manageable, and students are better able to engage in learning and critical thinking. This is not the work of one specialist or program; it is the responsibility of each school to teach students the executive function skills necessary to feel and be successful in learning. 

Shannon Lyons is an education specialist, supporting students with learning differences. She is a Teach Plus California Policy Fellowship alumna.