With this simple activity, the teacher has helped Kevin learn how to follow directions, manage his frustration and be persistent when faced with a challenge. These are examples of executive function skills, the abilities that serve as the foundation all children need to succeed in school and in life.

Once children enter kindergarten, they are expected to know how to focus on a task, control their impulses and ask for help when they need it. Only when children have mastered these skills can they take on the academic tasks of learning to read, write and do simple math problems. A child who can’t focus on the task at hand can disrupt a whole kindergarten classroom, frustrating teachers and distracting the other children from learning.

The sad reality is that not all children have the nurturing early experiences—at home or in high-quality early learning settings—that they need to develop healthy executive function skills. Research shows that helping parents and teachers foster these abilities in young children would improve academic performance, raise high school graduation and college completion rates, and create a productive workforce contributing more to the economy.

Executive function skills begin to develop when a child is as young as 6 months old. While these competencies continue to develop throughout adolescence, the most important skill development happens before age 5.

We know children don’t inherently develop these non-cognitive skills as they grow up. These abilities must be nurtured in safe and predictable environments by parents, teachers and other caregivers. Studies show that children who grow up in stressful situations, such as chaotic households or crime-ridden neighborhoods, struggle to develop healthy executive function skills.

We also know that executive function skills in the early years are related to later academic performance in elementary school. An evaluation of the Chicago School Readiness Project showed that children’s executive function in the spring of preschool predicted achievement in math and reading three years later.  Additionally, executive function skills are more predictive of school readiness than a child’s IQ.

Furthermore, the abilities to stay on task, plan, organize and delay gratification are the same skills necessary to hold a job, develop healthy relationships and deal with stressful situations later in adulthood. In fact, one study found that children who lack self control at ages 3 to 11 tend to be less healthy, earn less and commit more crimes 30 years later than those with better self control as children.

Policy, funding still lags behind research

Despite all the research linking executive function and school performance, education policy still hasn’t caught up with the science of early childhood d