High School Teachers’ Descriptions of Adolescents’ Executive Functioning Skills Development

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

High school presents many challenges for adolescents, including academic expectations, peer pressure and socioemotional sensitivity (Blakemore, 2018; Harms et al., 2014). Executive functioning skills (EFS) support adaptation to new developmental challenges (Cohen et al., 2013). Despite the relevance of EFS for adolescents, much EFS research focuses on early childhood (Barker & Munakata, 2015). Adolescents may benefit from EFS support, and high school teachers may be uniquely positioned to provide this support. This qualitative descriptive study addressed three research questions:
RQ1: How do high school teachers describe adolescents’ EFS development?
RQ2: What factors do high school teachers think influence EFS development in the classroom?
RQ3: How do high school teachers describe the role of EFS in high school success?
High school teachers from one suburban U.S. school completed a questionnaire (n = 45), and a subsample of questionnaire participants completed a semi-structured interview (n = 12). Data analysis included descriptive statistics for questionnaire responses and thematic analysis of interview responses, used together to answer research questions.
RQ1: Interview and questionnaire results indicated that all teacher participants (100%) viewed EFS as still developing during high school. Questionnaire participants indicated that they consider EFS development to manage classroom instruction and incorporate teaching strategies in the high school classroom, such as providing individualized EFS supports to students (19.85%) and modeling behaviors that facilitate EFS (13.23%). Interview participants identified assumptions they hold about EFS in high school students, including assuming that adolescents’ EFS are developmentally advanced. Although all questionnaire participants reported that EFS are still developing, interview participants’ assumptions about adolescent EFS development reflected a higher level of development compared to questionnaire responses. Thus, some high school teachers may assume that adolescents are more developmentally advanced than they actually are.
RQ2: Questionnaire participants reported (71.11%) parental support at home more than any other influencing factor on EFS development, and interview participants supported this finding. Questionnaire participants indicated that understanding of EFS comes from personal (71.11%) and professional (86.67%) experience, not from formal educational training. Interview participants further corroborated this finding. Interview participants described using strategies to support EFS in the classroom as part of regular classroom instruction. Interview participants reported establishing relationships with their students as an important strategy to influence students’ EFS development; questionnaire participants did not cite this as an influential factor in EFS development.
RQ3: Both questionnaire and interview participants perceived EFS as relevant to high school success. Questionnaire participants most frequently endorsed the EFS of metacognition (34.88%), emotional control (13.95%), plan/prioritize (11.63%), and organization (11.63%) as most influential; interview participants identified these same EFS as most relevant. Questionnaire participants reported that time (66.66%) and lack of training (47.37%) represented the two primary barriers to including EFS supports in the classroom; interview participants most frequently mentioned these same challenges.
Several practical implications emerged from the results of this study, which could assist high school teachers’ training on how to incorporate and support EFS development through existing teaching practices in the high school classroom. Future research recommendations are presented.

Authors

• Carla Ordonez, Neuqua Valley High School
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mary Shuttlesworth, La Roche University
  Presenting Author