Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Last Updated on 02/12/2026 by Traci Hedetniemi

Imagine a teacher starts a lesson with this prompt:

You have 10 minutes for your warm-up. The instructions are in Google Classroom. You’re going to open the link to the primary source article, read the first two sections, and then, in a new Google Doc, please write a three-sentence summary of the author’s main argument. Make sure to title the doc appropriately and share it with me when you’re done”

Now imagine Leo, a student working to complete this warm-up:

Leo opens Google Classroom and sees a notification from his science class pop up. He clicks it, reads the comment, and then clicks back. He finds the history post but forgets what he’s supposed to do, so he has to re-read the instructions three times. He clicks the article link and it opens in a new tab. The article is dense and lacks images, so as he begins to read, his eyes glaze over, and he feels stuck. Leo remembers he’s supposed to open a Google Doc, so he opens another tab and begins to type “Google…” into the search bar, but the browser auto-fills with a prompt to open Google’s new AI video generator, so he clicks it. Five minutes later, his teacher walks by, and he quickly clicks back to the article tab. When his teacher asks Leo where his summary is, he scrambles to open a new tab and open a blank Google Doc. He can’t remember the instruction or the main argument from the article he never really read. 

When ten minutes are up, Leo has three tabs open, zero sentences written, and a familiar feeling of being “bad at school.” His teacher is frustrated and confused because this was a short, simple task with directions that were right there.

But this seemingly simple digital task demanded at least five different executive functioning skills to be completed successfully. It isn’t a motivation problem: students who struggle with executive functioning have cognitive skill gaps that are often exacerbated in today’s digital learning landscape. Equipping students with tools to manage the command center of their own minds is a non-negotiable foundation for learning.

The “What” of Executive Functioning 

Executive functions operate like the traffic control system of the brain. They are a set of cognitive skills that allow us to manage our thoughts, emotions, and actions to achieve goals. These skills are not what students learn, but how they learn; they are teachable, not fixed, and something that develops as we learn and grow through life. Key components of executive functioning include:

1. Task Initiation– This is like the brain’s engine starter. It’s the ability to begin a task, which requires overcoming mental hurdles, particularly when the task is large, tedious, or challenging.
   Student Example: Taking out materials to start the Do Now at the beginning of class.
2. Planning and Prioritization – This is like the brain’s roadmap. It is the ability to look at a goal, break it down into smaller steps, and decide which steps are most important to do first.
   Student Example: Deciding to study for tomorrow morning’s test, before doing homework that’s due in a few days, even if the homework assignment is an easier task.
3. Organization – This is like the brain’s filing cabinet. It’s the ability to create and maintain systems that keep track of information, materials, and time.
   Student Example: Using folders to organize Google Drive and labeling files and screenshots with descriptive titles.
4. Working Memory – This is like a mental sticky note. It’s the brain’s temporary notepad that holds information while it’s in use.
   Student Example: Taking notes from a slide and adding details while listening to the teacher.
5. Information Processing – This is like the brain’s mail sorter. It’s the ability to actively identify, interpret, and decide how to proceed with new information.
   Student Example: Picking out the main idea and text details that support that idea from a reading passage.
6. Self-Monitoring – This is like the brain’s internal coach. It’s a form of metacognition and refers to the self-guidance we use when checking work, monitoring understanding, and adjusting performance.
   Student Example: Re-reading a passage to clarify confusion or checking math work for careless errors.
7. Sustained Attention – This is like the brain’s air traffic tower operator. It’s the brain’s ability to maintain focus on a task and avoid distraction for the entire process, especially for tasks that are repetitive or less engaging.
   Student Example: Reading a chapter for 20 minutes without taking a break or persisting through editing the final draft of a paper.
8. Fluency/Processing Speed – This is like the brain’s internet speed. It’s the efficiency with which the brain takes in, understands, and responds to information.
   Student Example: Quickly recalling math facts or reading a passage at a conversational pace.
9. Inhibitory/Impulse Control – This is like the brain’s mental brakes. It’s the ability to stop and think before you act, to filter out distractions, and to resist impulses.
   Student Example: Waiting for your turn in a class discussion.
10. Cognitive Flexibility – This is like the brain’s navigator. It’s the ability to switch strategies, adapt to change, and see things from a different perspective.
    Student Example: Trying a different method to solve a math problem after the first one doesn’t work.

The WHY of Executive Functioning

Executive Functioning and The Link to Academic Achievement

Research, including the Dunedin Study and work by Dr. Adele Diamond and Angela Duckworth, has found that strong executive function skills are a better predictor of long-term academic achievement than IQ or socioeconomic status. Specifically:

• Executive functioning skills have a significant influence on performance in reading, math, and language arts, particularly in primary grades.
• Targeted instruction and routines that support executive functioning result in measurable gains in academic performance and student engagement.
• Students with well-developed executive functioning are better equipped to set goals, monitor their progress, regulate their behavior, and respond flexibly to new situations. Strong executive functioning facilitates higher-order thinking and promotes positive social interactions.
• Deficits in executive functioning correlate with challenges in organization, incomplete assignments, difficulty coping with distractions, and lower academic achievement.
• Supporting executive functioning has lifelong benefits and predicts college completion, career readiness, and positive mental health.

Educators may misinterpret a student’s struggle with executive functioning skills as a lack of effort or low intelligence, but research shows that deficits in executive functions are cognitive gaps in learning that have a direct impact on core subjects. Without these skills, students will struggle to apply content knowledge regardless of their level of intelligence, as executive functioning skills govern how students use the knowledge they have.

Executive Functioning as the Foundation for Social-Emotional Learning

Executive functioning skills and social-emotional learning (SEL) are deeply interconnected. 

• Self-Management – Managing frustration or stress is almost impossible without inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. 
• Social Awareness – Skills like empathy and perspective-taking require cognitive flexibility.
• Relationship Skills – Engaging in group work requires working memory and inhibitory control.

Supporting executive functioning skills directly enhances students’ ability to self-regulate, leading to fewer behavioral disruptions, reduced stress and anxiety, and more positive peer relationships.

Executive Functioning Supports Learner Agency and Personalization

Executive functions enable learner agency, as students cannot own their learning or take action on a personalized learning path without the underlying skills to manage this responsibility and freedom. For example, consider the steps involved in completing a learning project:

• Goal-setting requires task initiation. 
• Planning is itself an executive functioning skill that also ties in with prioritization.   
• Carrying out a plan requires working memory and sustained attention. 
• Assessing progress and adjusting the plan requires self-monitoring and cognitive flexibility.

This example highlights how supporting executive functioning skills is the mechanism by which we build genuine student agency, as those skills are the cognitive tools necessary for self-regulated learning.

In the second part of this blog series (coming soon!) we will explore how to support executive functioning and examine digital tools in the Chrome browser that lighten cognitive load. In the meantime, connect with fellow educators in the comments below to share experiences you’ve had with students that highlight why building executive functioning skills is essential to academic success.