Professional Development and Training
ResearchILD offers opportunities for professional development in a variety of formats and settings, from webinars attended by hundreds of educators world-wide, to customized trainings designed for groups of educators within a single district or school. Our programs train educators how to get the most out of our EF tools and techniques—boosting grades and fostering behaviors that lead to improved learning.
“My students and I all learned to ‘work smarter not harder’ by learning and applying executive function strategies throughout our daily classroom routine.”
5th Grade Teacher
We give teachers the knowledge and understanding to implement powerful executive function strategies in special education and general education classrooms, as well as in 1:1 settings.
2024 Executive Function Essentials
Welcome to the 2024 Executive Function Essentials training series. This year’s sessions will focus on how to use executive function to empower students, addressing both academic and social emotional learning needs. Come and learn with us!
Sessions will be hosted live at the times listed below and offered as a recording, which will be posted shortly after the sessions conclude. All recordings and materials will be available until May 1, 2024.
2024 Executive Function Essentials Toolkit Bundle
Looking for a deep dive into all things executive function? Join us for the full EF Essentials Toolkit for comprehensive executive function training. This package includes the following sessions at a special price!
- Igniting Success and Reducing Stress: Promoting Self-Understanding and Executive Function in the Classroom – February 8, 2024, 3:30-5:30 P.M. EST
- Project-Based Learning and Executive Function – February 13, 2024, 3:30-5:30 P.M. EST
- Executive Function and AI – February 29, 2024, 3:30-5:30 P.M. EST
- Procrastination, Focus, and Distraction – March 5, 2024, 3:30-5:30 P.M. EST
EF Essentials Session 1: Igniting Success and Reducing Stress: Promoting Self-Understanding and Executive Function in the Classroom
Why do students feel so overwhelmed and stressed in school? How can we teach executive function (EF) strategies and promote social-emotional learning (SEL) to reduce stress and to increase student engagement?
This presentation will focus on approaches educators can use to promote metacognitive awareness, executive function and social-emotional learning for every student. Throughout, attendees will learn practical strategies for understanding students’ metacognitive awareness and for teaching goal-setting, flexible problem-solving, organizing, prioritizing, and self-monitoring strategies as part of the classroom curriculum.
Presented by: Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D.
Date/time: February 8, 2024, 3:30-5:30 P.M. EST
EF Essentials Session 2: Project-Based Learning and Executive Function
How does having a strong foundation of executive function strategies facilitate successful project-based learning for students? Why do students struggle with the process of project-based learning? In this session, attendees will learn why executive function is essential for successful PBL, and how to integrate instructional moves that strengthen EF strategies.
Presented by: Jessica Chiusolo, M.Ed. & Laurel Black, Ed. M.
Date/time: February 13, 2024, 3:30-5:30 P.M. EST
EF Essentials Session 3: Executive Function and AI
Is AI an existential threat to education, or is it a powerful tool for individualized instruction? And what are the ramifications for students’ EF strategy use? In this session, attendees will learn the what, why, and how of understanding the impact of AI and how to leverage AI to protect and promote executive function strategy use.
Presented by: Michael Greschler, M.Ed. and Elizabeth Ross, M.A.
Date/time: February 29, 2024, 3:30-5:30 P.M. EST
EF Essentials Session 4: Procrastination, Focus, and Distraction
How do we help students overcome procrastination and distraction and use executive function strategies to stay focused? This workshop will teach educators, and coaches how to help students develop effective executive function strategies, stay motivated, and reduce procrastination.
Presented by: Shelly Levy, M.Ed., M.A. and Joan Steinberg, M.Ed.
Date/time: March 5, 2024, 3:30-5:30 P.M. EST
2023 SMARTS Executive Function Workshop
*THIS WORKSHOP IS FOR CURRENT LICENSE HOLDERS ONLY. YOU MUST BE THE EDUCATOR ASSIGNED TO THE LICENSE IN ORDER TO ATTEND.*
As you prepare for the year ahead, it’s a great time to dig deeper into the SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum at this year’s Summer Workshop. Learn with peers from across the country. Led by experienced members of the SMARTS team, attendees will get hands-on experience with popular strategies and will spend time learning how to adapt and modify SMARTS to meet the unique needs of their students.
This year’s summer workshop will be held online via Zoom or recorded sessions for a total of 10 hours of training. In both large group sessions and grade-level breakouts, we will explore the importance of executive function strategy instruction.
By the end of this training series, attendees will have a thorough knowledge of SMARTS and will be prepared to implement a customized approach for any educational setting.
This training series consists of 6 full session. Two sessions are available recorded, and four will be held live with recordings available afterwards. That’s a total of 10 hours of training! Attend live and watch the recordings, with access through December 31, 2023.
Pre-recorded sessions:
- Getting to Know SMARTS
- Measuring Student Success with the MetaCOG Surveys & Toolkit
Live sessions (with recordings available afterwards):
- Session 1: Best Practices for Executive Function (Aug 8, 11-1 EDT)
- Session 2: Organizing Time and Materials (Aug 10, 11-1 EDT)
- Session 3: EF and Challenging Academics: Reading, writing and remembering (Aug 15, 11-1 EDT)
- Session 4: Self-understanding and SEL (Aug 17, 11-1 EDT)
Cost: $325 per educator. Please note, attendees must have an active SMARTS license.
*Add a new SMARTS subscription for your school or district and receive $50 off the workshop price!
Interested in bulk pricing? Reach out to us for discount information.
Questions? Contact Lorissa Gomez, SMARTS Operations Coordinator, [email protected]
School & District Trainings
ResearchILD works with school districts and educational organizations to train educators to understand and implement easy-to-use executive function strategies. Our virtual and on-site trainings and workshops are designed to meet the unique needs of each classroom, school, and district. All our trainings are designed to help educators:
- Understand the crucial role executive function processes play in successful learning.
- Explore how executive function challenges and learning differences, such as ADHD or dyslexia, interfere with common academic tasks (e.g., organizing, reading comprehension, and test-taking and influence emotional regulation).
- Learn hands-on strategies to use across grade levels and content areas.
- Create a plan to implement executive function programming via instructional leadership teams, grade levels, content areas, and school-wide.
Whether you are implementing SMARTS, or want to provide teachers with a foundation in executive function strategies, ResearchILD will customize a program that meets your needs.
Our trainings are highly interactive and personalized. Follow-up consultation and coaching is available through regularly scheduled calls, virtual meetings, newsletters, and webinars.
The Power of Executive Function Webinar Series: Empowering Educators with the SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum
Join us for a comprehensive 3-part webinar series where you’ll discover the transformative power of the SMARTS Executive Function curriculum and how it can empower your students to achieve academic success. Led by educators and experts in executive function, this series will provide a top to bottom perspective on the state of executive function support in education today.
Register today and join us for this transformative webinar series that will empower you to foster executive function strategy use and self-understanding in your students and set them on their unique pathway to success.
Key takeaways:
- Understand the essential role of executive function in student learning
- Explore the unique features of the SMARTS Executive Function curriculum and learn more about how it is empowering students across grades and content areas
- Provide students with self-checking strategies to improve their work and academic performance
Who should attend:
- General education teachers
- Special education teachers
- School psychologists
- School administrators
- Curriculum specialists
- Executive Function coaches
- Parents of students with EF difficulties
Session 1: Understanding Executive Function in the Classroom
Jan 11, 4-5 pm EST
Delve into the world of executive function (EF) and gain a clear understanding of its critical role in student learning. This session will explore the key EF skills, their impact on academic performance, and the challenges faced by ALL students, including those with EF difficulties, such as ADHD and learning disabilities (LD).
Session 2: Tiers of EF Support: Executive Function in Special Education and General Education Settings
Jan 18, 4-5 pm EST
Learn how to effectively implement the SMARTS Executive Function curriculum across all tiers of support, from school-wide initiatives to individual student interventions. Hear from a panel of experienced SMARTS educators who will share their insights and strategies for successful implementation in both special education and general education settings.
Session 3: Executive Function and Self-checking: Empowering Students to Monitor and Improve Their Work
Jan 25, 4-5 pm EST
Equip your students with the self-checking skills they need to take ownership of their learning and improve their academic performance. This session will explore a range of practical strategies for helping students monitor their work for accuracy, completeness, and consistency, from test-taking to writing assignments and project work.
Free Webinars
It’s clear that teachers, parents, and students need executive function strategies now more than ever. But where should you start? Learn the answer to all your EF questions from the experts! Our free webinars are a great way to begin your EF journey or explore a perspective on executive function that may be new to you.
Join us at our next free event!
Some of our previous webinar topics have included:
- Motivation, Effort, and Executive Function: Announcing the MetaCOG Surveys & Toolkit
- Executive Function, Achievement, and Equity
- Understanding Executive Function
- Executive Function: The Bridge Between Home and School
- Executive Function and Reading
- Executive Function and Math
- Messy Rooms, Running Late, and Lost Jackets: Using SMARTS@Home to Develop Essential Executive Function Strategies in Elementary-aged Children
- Executive Function Strategies as a Blueprint for Academic Success: The SMARTS Curriculum
- Executive Function and Self-Checking: Helping Students Learn from their Mistakes
You can view recordings of previous webinars on our YouTube channel. Subscribe for more great executive function resources!
Annual Executive Function Conference
ResearchILD’s annual Executive Function conference, founded and directed by Dr. Lynn Meltzer since 1984, brings together an unparalleled panel of speakers from across the educational spectrum, including experts in executive function and metacognition, social and emotional learning, neurodiversity, and learning differences.
ResearchILD has been a premier provider of research-based content for educators seeking knowledge, information, and practical strategies for EF strategy development for all learners, including those with ADHD, ASD, and dyslexia.
This 38th Annual Executive Function and Learning Differences conference will address the close connections between Executive Function and Social-Emotional Learning and the importance of examining these processes for students from K-12 to college. Presentations will highlight the themes of neurodiversity, flexible thinking, motivation, self-understanding, self-regulation, and behavior, in the context of research, clinical practice, and teaching.
To register, or to read more about the conference, including confirmed speakers, click here.
Join us at the 2023 Executive Function Conference
The 2023 Executive Function conference will address the close connections between executive function and social-emotional learning and the importance of examining these processes for all students.
“These courses have transformed not only my students' lives but mine as well. As an educator, I cannot recommend these trainings enough.”