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    25 views5 pages

    Executive Skills - The Hidden Curriculum

    Uploaded by

    Cyndi Whitmore

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    Executive Skills: The Hidden Curriculum Executive skills—essential to success in school and throughout life—can and should be taught in school. By Peg Dawson and Richard Guare Pog Dawsoniso licensed Cinicol schoo! Psychologist on stff at the Center fr Leoring and tention Disorders in Portsmouth Ni Richard Guae iso newropayehologst ond curently serves 03 cirector of the Center vforLeoming and “Aienion Disorders. Student Services is produced in clabration with the National Association of Sehao! Paychologsts (NASP Dricles an related handouts canbe downloaded from vwwinaspontineor/ resoures/principals 10 a rnc Leadership ack isa bright 16 year old who can sit in class, soak up lectures, and offer insightful comments during discussions. He appears tobe an eager aniculate student, for which teachers love him. Unfortunately, he has a great eal of difficulty geting his homework handed ion time. Sometimes he does it but loses it before turing iin. Other times, he simply forgets about the assignment. Sometimes his homework i so backed up that he must decide ‘what he can nish. And all too frequently, he gets home from school with the bes of inten- tions but gets distracted. Emily, on the other hand, isa 14 year old ‘with an active social life who gets completely preoccupied with the drama of her friends’ lives. he may skip class to talk toa friend or 0 to the mall aftr school instead of study. ing for atest. When Emily actually does get down to work, she worties about the quality of her efforts, She may have a great idea for an English paper, but when she stats to write and sees that i's not going as planned, she sets the paper aside and reorganizes her biology notebook while she waits for inspiration to hit Teachers see lashes of good work, but the absences and late assignments convince them that Emily simply isn’t motivated to be a suc- «cessful student. ‘The “underachieving” student is one of the most troublesome challenges for school administrator, teachers, and parents. Some students have identifiable disabilities, mental health problems, or personal circumstances that explain poor performance, but all 00 ‘many just don't seem to care. What Are Executive Skills? Many educators look at students like Jack and Emily and think, “What a waste." They assume that if those students wanted to do better, they ‘could. They assume that students’ lack of suc- cess is simply a matter of lacking will power, determination, and good decisions. There is an element of truth to this, but experts on the neuropsychology of the adolescent brain knov that it’s a bit more complicated. The skills thar are underdeveloped in Jack and Emily—and thousands of other underachieving students— are brain-based sills called “executive skills” that develop slowly over the course of child- hood and adolescence and are not fully mat: until young people are well into their 203— ‘even older if they have an attention disorder. Executive skills ae the skills that are re- ‘quired to execute tasks—to take an idea from start to finish, whether it involves cleaning one’s bedroom or doing everything it takes to get into an Ivy League college. Researchers ans clinicians have developed different schemes for organizing executive skills into clusters. ‘Apanticularly helpful approach is to identify set of fairly discrete skills, such as response inhibition, working memory, and emotional control, ‘A quick review of executive skills reveals how essential they are, not only for success as a student but also for success as a principal or a teacher. In many ways, they constitute the hidden curriculum in schools because teach- cers know that students need them but typi cally don’t go about teaching them explicitly. ‘Teachers tend to hold students accountable when they don’t have executive skills but fal 10 recognize that the skills can be taught the same way that students are taught to perform geometry proofs, outline a book chapter, and write an essay. 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Often schools are more likely to address skills deficits for students with a disability than they are with students in general education, because ‘overcoming skills deficits isa focus of special education. This constitutes a serious lost learn- ing opportunity for many general education students ‘The message for middle level and high ‘school administrators is very clear: executive skills emerge slowly throughout adolescence; they develop unevenly; and once adolescence is past, they are resistant to change The middle level and high school years, therefore, area

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