Designing Brain-Ready Schools for Academic Success

Are you following the Science of Reading, using updated curriculum, and intervening more than ever before, but your students are still struggling academically?  You are not alone. Schools across the country are working hard to improve academic outcomes, increase engagement, and close achievement gaps, but even the strongest curriculum or instructional strategy can fall short when students are not neurologically ready to learn. 

In many schools, attention is focused on the Science of Reading, standards, assessments, and interventions. While these are essential, and required in Ohio, they often overlook an important foundational skill: bilateral coordination. This developmental skill involves using both sides of the body together through coordinated gross or fine motor movement. When it is underdeveloped, the brain may struggle to efficiently process, access, and retain information. 

Educators are increasingly noticing students who struggle with attention, stamina, coordination, and reading fluency despite strong instruction. Often these challenges are not about motivation or ability, but about underdeveloped neurological pathways connected to bilateral coordination. Changes in children’s daily environments such as increased screen time and less unstructured play have reduced opportunities for practicing these foundational skills. This leaves their brain not ready to learn the foundations of reading. One way schools can address this challenge is by intentionally designing “brain-ready” environments.

Brain-ready enviornoments intentionally embedding activities that strengthen brain systems throughout the school day. Brain-ready schools incorporate short bilateral coordination and thinking challenges across classrooms, hallways, transitions, and common spaces. These simple practices strengthen communication between the brain’s hemispheres, which supports reading development, sustained attention, and higher-order thinking. My research in schools implementing these deliberate cognitive activities have shown measurable gains in academic growth and reading fluency as evidenced in i-ready and other progress monitoring tools.

Creating a brain-ready school does not require new staff or expensive programs. Simple strategies such as two-minute coordination routines, hallway brain challenges, and purposeful transitions can begin immediately. These practices transform existing time and space into opportunities that strengthen the brain.

Rather than waiting until students struggle, brain-ready schools focus on preparing the brain before instruction begins. When schools intentionally design environments that support neurological development, instruction becomes more effective, and learning outcomes improve.  Learn more about bilateral coordination activities and brain-ready schools by coming to my session at the OAESA Conference in Columbus, Ohio, in June.  You can also contact me at jill@thriftedwisdom.com for more information.