Engaging Parental Support for Smarter Thinking

The various types of learning models being used during the COVID-19 pandemic have changed the way that teachers interact with students and with their parents. Whether teachers are at schools that currently use in-person, remote or hybrid learning approaches, they need parental support and cooperation more than ever to enhance their effectiveness.

Parents and teachers, working in partnership, can help children develop learning strategies that rely more heavily on executive function. The key is to focus on reinforcing messages and strategies that encourage children to take charge of their thinking—not only in virtual and in-person classroom settings but as part of their non-school activities as well. The ultimate goal is to teach children how to be the boss of their own brain.

Engaging Parental Support for Smarter Thinking

Given that students spend much more time outside of school than in the classroom, partnering with parents can be an effective way to help children and youth enhance their executive function. Reinforcing messages and strategies related to taking charge of their thinking at home also illustrates how truly useful it can be to be the boss of your brain.

Many parents won't be familiar with the concept of executive function—or indeed the idea of guiding students to learn how to learn. In their own K-12 education, today's parents likely never encountered lessons about how the human brain learns and how people can become more effective learners. As a result, it will be helpful to share three key messages with parents: