By Betsy Hill and Roger Stark
Schools nationwide are continuing to search for effective ways to address the learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As district leaders evaluate approaches to close achievement gaps, it is important to remember a central finding from neuroscience: unless a student’s cognitive and emotional readiness to learn is addressed, even excellent teaching and curricula can have limited impact. This insight has led some innovative schools in New York, Indiana, and other states to adopt programs that directly target each student’s cognitive and emotional readiness.
These schools are using a nationally normed, scientifically validated cognitive assessment to identify each student’s cognitive strengths and weaknesses and to guide instruction. They then provide comprehensive, research-based cognitive training that develops the underlying mental processes essential for learning. The training is delivered in an engaging, game-like format and can be implemented in the classroom or through distance learning. Cognitive growth is measured by re-administering the assessment after training, and academic progress is tracked with existing formative and summative assessments.
The cognitive assessment gives teachers deep, actionable insights into how individual students learn, enabling differentiated instruction and evidence-based strategies tailored to each learner. The cognitive training focuses on executive functions and other core processes that support attention, working memory, processing speed, and reasoning—skills that directly affect academic performance and social-emotional competence. As students’ cognitive skills improve, teachers and parents often report gains in persistence, confidence, willingness to tackle challenging tasks, and peer relationships.
Learning to Be Smart
Research over the past decade has shown that intelligence is not a fixed trait established only in early childhood. Studies observing changes in IQ during adolescence provide evidence of brain plasticity and suggest that cognitive abilities can change significantly over time. This opens the possibility that intentional interventions—targeted cognitive assessment and training—can produce meaningful improvements in cognitive functioning that support academic learning.
Clinical practitioners and educators have reported striking examples that illustrate this potential. One case involved a young man in his 20s who had been classified as having an Educable Intellectual Disability (historically described as “educable mentally handicapped”), typically associated with IQs in the 50–70 range and the expectation of reaching approximately a fifth-grade academic level. After 18 months of intensive cognitive training and completing all levels of the program, his follow-up assessment on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale showed scores in the average range.
Another example involves a young woman on the autism spectrum who engaged in the same cognitive training program with her learning specialist and later continued independently because she enjoyed it. Over more than two years and hundreds of sessions, she completed most levels of the training. Her family reports dramatic improvements in focus, communication, comprehension, and analytical skills, along with the disappearance of inappropriate behaviors and a notable boost in self-esteem. She subsequently enrolled in a state college and earned As in her initial courses.
These stories highlight a critical point: people are not simply born “smart” or “dumb.” Intelligence develops across the lifespan, and targeted, comprehensive cognitive training can significantly enhance cognitive capacity. When cognitive skills are strengthened, students are better prepared to absorb and apply academic content, which helps close learning gaps—particularly those widened by the disruptions of the pandemic.
Cognitive training is not a quick fix or a replacement for high-quality instruction. Rather, it is a complementary approach that builds the mental tools required for effective learning. By combining robust cognitive assessment with individualized training and ongoing academic measurement, schools can create a more complete system that supports both cognitive development and academic achievement.
About the authors
Betsy Hill is President of BrainWare Learning Company, an organization focused on building learning capacity through applied neuroscience. An experienced educator, she has studied the intersection of neuroscience and education with leading experts and has served as chair of the board of trustees at Chicago State University. She teaches strategic thinking in the MBA program at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, where she received a Contribution to Learning Excellence Award, and she earned a Nepris Trailblazer Award for sharing neuroscience-based learning practices in classrooms. She holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and an MBA from Northwestern University.
Roger Stark is Co-founder and CEO of BrainWare Learning Company. For more than a decade, he has led efforts to make comprehensive cognitive literacy training and assessment accessible and affordable. Drawing on decades of clinical collaboration and iterative development, he helped build an online cognitive training system designed to strengthen core mental processes that underlie learning. His work focuses on practical, research-informed solutions that support teachers, clinicians, and students in improving learning outcomes.