Executive Functioning in Guided Studies

Glenbrook North High School

Closing the Gap Alyx Korn, Counseling Intern

Identified Population and Rationale - According to enrollment data listed in PowerSchool, Glenbrook
North High School offers 16 sections of Guided Studies class for first semester in which 79 students are
enrolled. Guided Studies is a class during the day where students can get homework done, see teachers,
study, etc. There is a teacher in the classroom that can help them with their classwork, study skills, note
taking, homework completion, etc. Usually the students enrolled in this class have a hard time getting
their homework done after school, so it serves as a place during the day where they are monitored.
These students also are ones who have lower GPAs than others in the school.
After first semester was over, 23% of the students enrolled in Guided Studies were still getting
two or more Ds or Fs on their report card as documented in PowerSchool. The data found in
PowerSchool makes this a critical population to address. Extra intervention for these students is needed
in order to help them increase these grades.
The target population is those students who received two or more Ds or Fs on their first
semester report card. These students are all involved a guided studies class for credit (.25) or no credit
(guided studies can only be taken up to 3 times for credit) as written in the school profile. Eighteen
students are included in the group that makes up the 23% that are getting two or more Ds or Fs. In
order to run this program effectively, a sample size of ten students was identified based on their class
schedule. Nine of these ten students agreed to participate, 7 males (one with an IEP) and 2 females, and
ended up completing the intervention program.

Intervention This intervention consisted of a 6-week program given in four guided studies classes.
The students involved were pulled from Guided Studies class for about 30-45 min once a week for the
lesson. During the lessons, important aspects of executive functioning were discussed. Lessons will be
edited from the Executive Functioning Curriculum from Rush Neurobehavioral Center (2010). The
topics were based on the students answers to the pre-test, as to how knowledgeable they were on, and
often they used different executive functioning skills related to their schoolwork. Topics included:
materials management and setting up a student system, setting SMART goals, prioritization, breaking
down long term projects, making a study plan, and decision making. Based on the pre-test I found that
the students didnt have the skills necessary to even begin using executive functioning methods. They
simply needed lessons on ways to organize, prioritize, and study, etc. because they essentially had
nothing in their basket to pull from.

Results - To begin, a comparison was made between the students Semester 1 grades and 3
rd
quarter
grades, to determine of the students grades had improved based on the intervention. The graphs are
below. Two students were able to move from Ds and Fs to no Ds or Fs at all, a decrease of 23%. One
student was able to bring her 3 Ds to only one F, and continued getting help solely for that class she
received an F in. The total amount of Ds for third quarter decreased by 5, however the total amount of
Fs for third quarter increased by 2.





0 2 4 6
A
C
E
G
I
First Semester Grades
D's
F's
0 1 2 3 4 5
A
C
E
G
I
Third Quarter Grades
D's
F's
Grades were not the only variable measured during the post-test. I also measured the students
knowledge on, and how often they were using, the executive functioning skills discussed in the
intervention. For example, one of the questions asked during the pre-test was how often they use
different methods of studying for exams. Students were also asked if they were able to identify different
methods of studying for exams. While 100% of students on the post-test indicated they could identify
these methods, only 22% are using them all the time. For all of the six areas tested, students indicated
that they improved on using the skills more often, some all the time, rather than not at all.









Recommendations In the future, I would recommend this curriculum to be integrated into the
freshman guided studies classes. My idea would be to have the sections of guided studies broken up by
grade level, and these lessons given to the freshmen. Four out of the nine students that participated
were sophomores and above, and they never learned these different skills and methods to succeed at
school. Giving the freshman these lessons right away can help them to build their toolbox at the
beginning of their high school career. My second recommendation would be to hold students
accountable and checking to see if they tried the skills learned each week. I didnt use a method to
ensure skill implementation in their academics, and I believe this proved to be a little detrimental. Even
though I gave the students different skills and methods to use, they were not held accountable to
whether or not they actually used them each week. In the check in, I would want to find out if they were
not using the skills, for whatever reason. If they were not using the skills taught, I would want to find
something else that works for that student.
References
Endedijk, H., Denessen, E., & Hendriks, A. W. (2011). Relationships between executive functioning and
homework difficulties in students with and without autism spectrum disorder: An analysis of
student- and parent-reports. Learning & Individual Differences, 21(6), 765-770.
doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2011.07.016.
Glenbrook North High School PowerSchool. (2014). Guided Studies (Data file). Retrieved from
https://glenbrook225.powerschool.com/admin/sections/home.html.
Langberg, J., Dvorsky, M., & Evans, S. (2013). What Specific Facets of Executive Function are Associated
with Academic Functioning in Youth with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder?. Journal Of
Abnormal Child Psychology, 41(7), 1145-1159. doi:10.1007/s10802-013-9750-z
McGencey, S. (2011). The time is now: Creating opportunities for young children to succeed. National
Civic Review, 100(4), 56-58. doi:10.1002/ncr.20088
Rabi, R., & Minda, J. (2014). Rule-Based Category Learning in Children: The Role of Age and Executive
Functioning. Plos ONE, 9(1), 1-10. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0085316.
Rush NeuroBehavioral Center. (2010). Executive Functioning Curriculum. Skokie, IL.


Non
e of
the
time
11%
Some of the
time
22%
Most
of the
time
45%
All of the
time
22%
Post- I have used different methods to
study for quizzes/tests based on the
test.
None of
the time
45%
Some of
the time
44%
Most of
the time
11%
Pre- I have used different methods to
study for quizzes/tests based on the
test.