Executive Functioning Skills: The Hidden Key to Academic Success

Charlotte area students spend their high school years preparing to tackle their college applications and for the leap to college.  Much focus is placed on GPAs, standardized test scores, and extracurricular activities. However, there’s a set of skills that often flies under the radar yet proves crucial for academic success: executive functioning skills (EF). These cognitive processes are the hidden key that can unlock a student’s full potential in high school, higher education, and beyond.

Understanding Executive Functioning Skills

Executive functioning skills are a set of mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. They include:

1. Time Management: Critical for meeting deadlines and balancing multiple responsibilities. Poor time management often leads to rushed work, missed deadlines, and increased stress.
2. Organization: Essential for managing materials, information, and ideas effectively. Weak organizational skills can result in lost assignments, cluttered workspaces, and difficulty finding important information when needed.
3. Task Initiation: Enables starting tasks promptly without excessive delay. Struggles with task initiation often manifest as procrastination, leading to last-minute rushes and incomplete work.
4. Planning and Prioritizing: Crucial for breaking down complex projects and focusing on what’s most important. Difficulties here can lead to feeling overwhelmed, inefficient use of time, and trouble completing long-term projects.
5. Working Memory: Allows holding and manipulating information in mind while working. Weak working memory can affect the ability to follow multi-step instructions, perform mental math, and solve complex problems.
6. Metacognition (thinking about one’s thinking): Facilitates self-reflection and improvement of study strategies. Limited metacognition can hinder a student’s ability to recognize effective learning techniques and adapt to new academic challenges.
7. Self-control and Emotional Regulation: Helps manage impulses, emotions, and behavior in various situations. Poor self-control and emotional regulation can lead to difficulty staying focused, managing stress, and maintaining appropriate behavior in academic settings.
8. Flexibility and Adaptability: Allows adjusting to changes and considering alternative solutions. Rigid thinking can lead to difficulty in problem-solving, adapting to new teachers or teaching styles, and coping with unexpected changes in schedules or requirements.

Why Executive Functioning Skills Matter in High School

While crucial for college success and beyond, executive functioning skills are vital long before students step onto a university campus. In high school, these skills can be the difference between struggling and thriving:

1. Academic Performance: Strong executive functioning skills help students manage increasingly complex coursework, long-term projects, and exam preparation more effectively.

2. Stress Reduction: Improving organization and time management can significantly reduce academic stress and anxiety.

3. Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) Programs: These rigorous programs, popular among Charlotte’s college-bound students, demand high levels of self-regulation and organization.

4. Extracurricular Balance: Many high-achieving students in Charlotte balance academics with sports, clubs, volunteer work, and part-time jobs. Executive functioning skills are crucial for managing these multiple commitments.

5. Self-Advocacy: As coursework becomes more challenging, students with strong executive functioning skills are better equipped to recognize when they need help and seek it proactively.

6. Technology Management: In our digital age, the ability to manage online distractions and use technology productively is an increasingly important executive function.

7. Preparation for Standardized Tests: Tests like the SAT and ACT require not just knowledge but also time management, focus, and stress control – all EF skills.

8. Building Independence: High school is a crucial time for developing the self-reliance needed in college. Strong executive functioning fosters this independence.

9. Confidence Building: As students successfully manage their responsibilities, they build confidence in their abilities, setting a positive foundation for future challenges.

Why Executive Functioning Skills Are Crucial During the College Application Process

“I often say the college application process is one big executive functioning test,” says Katie Garrett, founder of Garrett Educational Consulting, “and it is often a student’s first major test of their EF skills.” For students, mastering these skills can make the difference between a stressful scramble and a smooth, successful application experience:

1. Managing Multiple Deadlines: Students typically apply to several colleges, each with its own set of deadlines for applications, financial aid, and scholarships. Strong time management skills are essential to keep track of these various due dates.

2. Organizing Documents: The application process requires managing numerous documents, including transcripts, test scores, essays, and letters of recommendation. Organizational skills help ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

3. Long-term Planning: Starting from junior year (or earlier), students need to plan for standardized tests, college visits, and application completion. This requires foresight and strategic planning skills.

4. Task Prioritization: With regular schoolwork continuing alongside college applications, students must prioritize tasks effectively to maintain their grades while completing applications.

5. Essay Writing: College essays require planning, drafting, revising, and proofreading – all of which call upon executive functioning skills like task initiation, sustained attention, and metacognition.

6. Decision-Making: Choosing which colleges to apply to, whether to apply early decision, early action, or regular decision and ultimately which offer to accept all require critical thinking and decision-making skills.

7. Stress Management: The application process can be highly stressful. Skills in emotional regulation and self-care are crucial for maintaining well-being during this period.

8. Communication: Students need to follow up with recommenders, communicate with admissions offices, and possibly negotiate financial aid packages, requiring strong communication and self-advocacy skills.

By recognizing the importance of executive functioning in the college application process, students can approach this challenging time with greater confidence and competence, setting themselves up for success not just in applications but in their future college careers.

Why These Skills Matter in College

The college environment demands a level of independence and self-regulation that many students haven’t experienced before. Katie reminds students, “There are 168 hours in a week, and on average, you spend 15 hours a week in classes.  That’s a lot of free time to manage.  EF skills become increasingly important as you have more control over the time in your day.”

Here’s why executive functioning skills are so crucial:

1. Increased Academic Rigor: College courses often require managing multiple long-term projects simultaneously, making planning and time management essential.

2. Less External Structure: Unlike high school, college schedules are less regimented, requiring students to structure their own time effectively.

3. Balancing Act: College life involves juggling academics, social life, possibly part-time work, and personal responsibilities, necessitating strong organizational and prioritization skills.

4. Self-Advocacy: Students need to be proactive in seeking help, communicating with professors, and managing their academic careers.

Developing Executive Functioning Skills

Developing executive functioning skills requires that a student really evaluate systems and tools that work for them.  Everyone does things differently and as much as a parent might like to impose a system on their student it may not end up working well.  The best system is the system that gets used, and that system differs from person to person, from class to class, and from year to year.

1. Use Your Tools: Introduce apps and software for time management and organization. Many schools offer these tools to students, but a Google Calendar or the calendar on your iPhone works great, too! Not a digital person, that’s ok – invest in some sort of calendar to keep track of things (whether that be a planner, wall calendar, etc).  

2. Practice Time Blocking: Encourage creating detailed schedules allocating specific times for study, leisure, and other activities.

3. Teach Project Management: Break down large assignments into smaller, manageable tasks with individual deadlines.

4. Encourage Metacognition: Promote self-reflection on study habits, learning styles, and areas for improvement.  Always be adaptable, remember – something that worked in math class may not work in English class, and next year’s math class may require some adjustment as well.  Reflecting on what worked and didn’t work on a regular basis is important.

5. Foster Independence: Gradually reduce parental involvement in schoolwork, allowing students to take ownership of their academic responsibilities.  Remember, success is a self sufficient student so you should be working yourself out of a job during this process.

6. Simulate College Scenarios: Create opportunities that mimic college-level independence and decision-making.  Give your student a budget to manage for items they are responsible for, have them make and keep their own appointments, etc.

7. Develop Stress Management Techniques: Teach methods like mindfulness or deep breathing to handle increased pressure.

When Your Child is Struggling: Seeking Help and Finding Balance

Despite best efforts, some students may continue to struggle with executive functioning skills. For parents facing this challenge, it’s important to know when and how to seek additional support while also maintaining a balance that allows for personal growth and responsibility.

Recognizing the Need for Help

Signs that your child might need additional support include:

• Consistently missing deadlines or forgetting assignments
• Inability to start tasks without significant prompting
• Extreme disorganization in their personal space and schoolwork
• Frequent emotional outbursts when faced with complex tasks
• Falling grades despite apparent effort

Steps to Take:

1. Communicate with Teachers: Reach out to your child’s teachers to get a comprehensive view of their performance and challenges.

2. Consider Professional Assessment: Educational psychologists can provide detailed assessments of your child’s executive functioning skills and offer targeted recommendations.

3. Explore Tutoring or Coaching: Specialized executive function coaches can work one-on-one with your child to develop strategies tailored to their needs.

4. Look into Assistive Technologies: There are numerous apps and tools designed to support executive functioning skills.  Check out our most recent podcast, From Rescue to Resilience where Executive Functioning expert, Jed Applerouth provides tips for students and families, including a list of apps he likes to help students with their EF skills.

5. Consider Support Groups: Connecting with other parents facing similar challenges can provide emotional support and practical tips.

The Importance of Balance

While it’s crucial to support your child, it’s equally important to allow them to develop independence and resilience. Here are some tips for maintaining this balance:

1. Scaffold Support: Provide more support initially, then gradually reduce it as your child demonstrates improvement.

2. Allow for Natural Consequences: While it’s tempting to rescue your child from every missed deadline or forgotten assignment, experiencing the natural consequences can be a powerful teacher.

3. Encourage Problem-Solving: When issues arise, guide your child in finding solutions rather than solving problems for them.

4. Celebrate Effort and Progress: Recognize improvements in executive functioning skills, not just academic outcomes.

5. Model Good Executive Functioning: Demonstrate effective planning, organization, and time management in your own life.

6. Maintain Open Communication: Regularly discuss challenges and successes with your child, fostering self-awareness and metacognition.

A Word of Caution

It’s essential to strike a balance between providing support and allowing your child to develop crucial life skills. Over-involvement can hinder a child’s ability to self-regulate and problem-solve independently. The goal is to guide and support, not to take over. Remember, the ultimate aim is to prepare your child for the independence required in college and beyond.

As high school students set their sights on the next phase of their educational journey, it’s crucial to remember that academic success in college relies on more than just subject knowledge. Executive functioning skills are the foundation for building academic and personal achievements. By recognizing the importance of these skills and actively working to develop them, students can significantly enhance their high school and college readiness and set themselves up for long-term success.

For parents and students looking to explore this topic further, check out our most recent podcast episode, From Rescue to Resilience, with Jed Applerouth, Executive Functioning expert and founder of Applerouth Tutoring.