Educational Services at RNBC
The education professionals at RNBC, under the guidance of the Director of Educational Services Department, Georgia Bozeday, EdD, are experts and leaders in providing services for schools and students in Executive Functions. Simply put, executive functions are the cognitive processes that occur in the frontal lobe area of the brain, which governs our abilities to plan, organize, make decisions, pay attention, and regulate behavior. Additionally, solving problems and evaluating the decisions we make fall within the scope of executive function skills.
The Educational Services Department at RNBC in Skokie, provides one-to-one tutoring in executive function skills for children, teens and young adults that is individualized to meet the specific needs of each student. During the summer, EF student workshops are offered for those entering middle school, high school or college, preparing students for these crucial academic transitions. These workshops develop essential organizational, time management and critical thinking skills in a small group environment. Competence in executive function skills builds independence in students and capacity for them to take responsibility for their own success in school.
Teachers are encouraged to participate in RNBC EF workshops designed with professional development in mind. Through these workshops, the importance of EF skills is reinforced and the teachers are provided with an EF curriculum developed by RNBC Educational Team Members to help them with strategies to support the EF skills of their students.
Additionally, schools can take advantage of on-site educational programming to develop executive function skills in students. RNBC team members consult with school personnel to familiarize them with the Executive Function Curriculum so that these educators can extend the training to others in their school. This can be accomplished through a team approach, specific grade level training, or a school-wide initiative. The Executive Function School Curriculum has been designed to correspond with RTI provisions, Tiers 1 and 2.
Research shows that
- Students who performed well in the Executive Function Curriculum have a higher rate of homework completion and earned higher grades, as measured in the subjects of math and reading
- Students who demonstrated greater adherence to the Executive Function Curriculum throughout the school year performed significantly better on the spring Learning First reading assessment and on the ISAT reading tests, even after controlling for demographic variables and prior years’ scores
Responding to parent requests, the RNBC Educational Services Department offers an EF Parent Seminar Series. This three session seminar series explores areas of the RNBC EF Curriculum especially relative to parents, including organizational skills, time management, study strategies, goal setting and decision making. These small parent groups allow the participants ample opportunity to interact with each other and the instructor. This experience is conducive to gaining insight into how executive function skills impact students and what parents can do to facilitate good habits that promote a lifetime of success.
The Educational Specialists also offer presentations to parent and/or community groups, featuring the latest information on executive function research and ways to help students on the home front.
Time management is one aspect of executive functions skills. Why is time management so important for students? Students lead very busy lives. They spend six hours daily in school, are involved in all types of after-school activities, have family responsibilities, in addition to the requirement of completing nightly homework assignments. Helping students become aware of how they spend their time, as well as giving them strategies to efficiently manage their time, will facilitate independence and a sense of control. Refer to our “Planning My Time” log for an activity to help students become aware of how they spend their time.