Hollowell Elementary highlights executive‑function instruction; teacher pilots to‑do lists and routines

At the Nov. 24 Hatboro‑Horsham School District board meeting, Hollowell Elementary Principal Steve Glaze presented the school’s approach to teaching executive‑functioning skills and showed a brief classroom demonstration from a fourth‑grade teacher.

Glaze described executive functions as a set of processes that help students plan, prioritize, maintain attention and manage disruptions. He tied the work to structured‑literacy practices and told the board the school is reading The Missing Link to Help Them Think in a community book club, noting the author joined virtually for a meeting and could visit the district in the spring.

To illustrate classroom practice, Glaze showed a short video of a fourth‑grade teacher, Miss Rosenbaum, using stepwise instructions and student to‑do lists. The teacher’s directions in the clip guided students to “finish writing your notes, then you need to do questions 1 through 8, then save and close, and go on ST Math or read independently.” Glaze described the routines as a way to make expected steps explicit so students can work more independently and recover from interruptions.

“Executive function is a more accurate predictor of student success than test scores, IQ, or socioeconomic status,” Glaze told the board, citing research effect sizes discussed in the presentation. Board members asked about scaling the practice districtwide; Glaze said staff meetings and professional learning communities are being used to share strategies, and the school club drew nearly 30 attendees for its first meeting this year.

Administrators said the work is ongoing and that they will continue to evaluate what practices scale across grade levels.