When preschool teachers sit down for professional training on executive function—the cognitive skills that help young children control impulses, focus attention, and remember classroom rules—something shifts in their classrooms. A new study from the University of Rhode Island shows that students whose teachers received structured workshops and ongoing coaching from experienced educators made measurable gains in these foundational abilities, suggesting that teacher development is a direct pathway to student success in early learning.
Executive function sits at the heart of early childhood development. These skills—impulse control, attention span, and working memory—have been linked to important educational, behavioral, and health outcomes that ripple across a child's entire lifespan. Yet despite the proven benefits of teacher training in other areas like language and literacy, little research had examined whether workshops and coaching could specifically strengthen how preschool teachers support executive function development. That gap is what prompted Sammy Ahmed, an assistant professor of human development and family science at the University of Rhode Island's College of Health Sciences, to partner with colleagues at Michigan State University and HighScope, a nonprofit organization advancing early education.
The research team recruited 317 children enrolled in early learning centers using the HighScope curriculum during the 2021–22 school year. Teachers were divided into two groups: an experimental group that attended five professional training sessions plus ongoing coaching from experienced early childhood educators, and a control group that followed the curriculum without additional support. The training workshops tackled concrete, actionable content—the relevance of executive function skills for children's learning and behavior, how children develop these skills developmentally, and specific strategies to promote executive function in classroom settings. Rather than passive lectures, the workshops featured whole-group discussions, guided practice, small-group work, and individual reflections, while coaching sessions helped teachers actually implement what they learned.
By spring, students in the experimental group showed improvements in executive function from where they started in the fall. Ahmed describes the gains as "modest," and the research team offers important context for interpreting the results. The pandemic's disruptions—including COVID-19 protocols in classrooms and significant teacher turnover—likely dampened what could have been more substantial improvements. The researchers also speculate that shorter, more frequent training sessions might unlock greater gains than the five-session model they studied.
Yet even modest progress carries real weight. A report published in October by the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, produced in partnership with the Rhode Island School Superintendents Association and the Rhode Island Department of Education, validates the core finding: instructional improvement requires districts to provide professional learning that teaches teachers new methods and offers ongoing support to help them stick. "The report affirms Rhode Island's recent commitment to teacher professional learning, which is becoming increasingly recognized as an important workforce investment," Ahmed noted.
Ahmed's team is already planning longitudinal research to track whether these early executive function gains translate into long-term benefits. The stakes are clear: early development of executive function is associated with lasting positive outcomes across a child's life. In a state investing in teacher development, this small study from Rhode Island suggests the investment may be paying dividends where it matters most—in how young children learn to manage themselves and their learning.