Cohasset School Committee Tackles Executive Functioning, Celebrates Achievements
Fifth-grade teachers showcase strategies to help students manage test anxiety and build lifelong skills
COHASSET - May 7 - The Cohasset School Committee meeting on May 7 showcases a comprehensive approach to teaching executive functioning skills that help students manage test anxiety and develop lifelong learning strategies.
Fifth-grade teachers Mairead Boulrisse and Karin Johnston present their work implementing executive functioning strategies and test-taking skills for students, demonstrating how these approaches benefit all learners, not just those with special needs.
"We're teaching how to take a test, how to attack something you don't know, how to attack something that we're unfamiliar with, we're not teaching to the test," Johnston explains to the committee.
The teachers emphasize the difference between teaching test-taking strategies versus teaching to the test, noting that their approach focuses on building transferable skills rather than narrowly preparing for specific test content.
"We do want to clarify, there is a difference with how to take a test versus teaching to the test," Boulrisse says. "Teaching to the test is not what we want to do."
The presentation highlights how executive functioning skills fall into four main categories: organization, time management, working memory, and impulse control and focus.
"We're thinking about how are the day-to-day tasks becoming more complex? How can we set students up with those tools to become more independent and more confident in using and displaying what they know?" Boulrisse explains.
Student surveys conducted after implementing these strategies show significant improvement in students' confidence levels. Before the training, students rated their preparedness at an average of 3.51 on a 5-point scale. After learning the strategies, that number rose to 4.17.
"A lot of the students said that they were more confident and they felt better about taking the assessments," Boulrisse notes.
The teachers also share that students find specific strategies particularly helpful, including techniques for managing stress during testing situations such as taking walks, stretching, doing desk pushups, thinking positive thoughts, deep breathing, and taking breaks.
Committee member Lance Dial expresses enthusiasm about the potential broader applications of these skills.
"This is fantastic. I can see a lot of the stuff that you covered here are not just skills that you use for tests, but skills you use in life, how to break things apart, how to think about things," Dial says.
Michael Stapleton, Director of Student Services, notes that similar executive functioning supports exist across all schools in the district.
"That's something that I'm working to kind of organize and sequence out," Stapleton says. "We have an executive functioning group that runs at the high school during utility... it's definitely something we're looking at expansion."
The meeting begins with a celebration of kindergarten literacy skills, as students demonstrate their abilities in phonemic awareness and letter-sound relationships through the Heggerty and Foundations programs.
Superintendent Sarah Shannon also presents the district's end-of-year report on goals, highlighting accomplishments in strengthening multi-tiered systems of support, completing curriculum mapping, implementing restorative justice practices, analyzing district resources, and improving communication.
"This was a bridge year while we developed a new strategic plan," Shannon explains. "The leadership team came together and we identified what our goals for the year would be. They served a few purposes. They helped us complete some of the tasks that we had set forth in the last strategic plan. And they provided us with a really solid foundation moving into our new strategic plan."
The committee also recognizes several significant contributions to the district:
* The Cohasset Education Foundation presents $81,100 in grants for projects including a playground communication board at Osgood School, Ninja Warrior equipment for Deer Hill Gym, indoor recess supplies, a middle school speaker, yearbook cameras, and a new courtyard outdoor wellness classroom at the middle/high school.
* The School Facilities Committee is formally suspended after six years of service, having completed its mission of assessing district facilities and developing improvement plans.
* Ted Carr is honored for his service as he attends his final meeting as a School Committee member.
"You are by far one of the kindest, most generous people that I have met in town so far," Chair Craig MacLellan tells Carr. "You and I share a passion for service and I find you quite inspirational."
The committee also approves several gifts to the district, including donations from South Shore Music Service, the Cohasset PSO, and Abington Bank.
Shannon announces that National Teacher Appreciation Week is being celebrated, along with recent recognitions for administrative professionals, principals, and school lunch staff.
"They are the backbone of who we are and why we are successful as we are," Shannon says of the district's teachers. "We would not be the district we are without you."