Coaching in the Classroom

Sarah D. Wrightwww.EdgeFoundation.org

Coaching – What It’s Not

• Coaching is not teaching or telling or imparting information of any kind.

• Coaching is not mentoring because it is not the sharing of experience to help a less experienced person learn the ropes.

• Coaching is not advising because it is not an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to behavior or action.

Coaching – What It Is• Coaching is an equal partnership between coach

and coachee.• In coaching, the coachee is held to be creative,

resourceful, and whole. The coachee is also held to be the best expert on his or her own issues and how to solve them.

• Coaching is a combination of careful listening and curious non-directive questioning that is both problem-solving and goal oriented and elicits from the coachee his or her own best answers.

• The coach has no attachment to the outcome.

More on Coaching

• Coaching can be used for spot help. For instance, helping someone think through a particular issue.

• Coaching can be used over a brief period of time to address a specific problem or challenge. For instance planning and executing a research paper.

• Coaching can be used over time to facilitate greater change and improvement in what ever areas are being worked on. For instance, how to improve the coachee’s ability to complete and hand in homework.

Coaching Is a Process• When engaged in over time, coaching creates

structure and accountability, and enhances follow through.

• The coachee accomplishes more.• The coachee develops a greater sense of self and

self-directedness.• The coachee feels better about themselves and

less anxious and less stressed.• The coachee internalizes the coaching and starts

coaching themselves.

Evidence for Coaching

• Most studies of coaching and ADHD have been conducted on college students, and most of those studies have used LASSI to determine the effectiveness of coaching.

• Generally speaking, every study of coaching as an intervention for ADHD that has used the LASSI to assess the intervention has found improvement in most measures for most students.

The LASSILearning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) is a 77-item instrument in 10 subcategories that assesses students’ practices and attitudes about learning and studying. The subcategories are:1) attitude2) motivation3) use of time-management principles4) anxiety about school performance5) concentration6) information processing, which relates to the use of organization to help with understanding and recall of subject matter7) selecting main ideas for further study8) use of study aids 9) self-testing as it relates to reviewing subject matter10) test preparation

Coaching in the Classroom

• Very often students experience school passively as something that is being done to them or for them.

• The coach does not have to be the expert.• The coaching approach returns responsibility

for the experience to the coachee.

Using Coaching in the Classroom

Individual coaching (done one-on-one in private):• “What would help you do x?”• “Did I hear you commit to doing y?”• “How will I know if you’re doing y?”• “What would you like me to do if you don’t do y

(what you said you’d do)?”• And later: “How’s y working for you? Do you

need to tweak anything or make any changes?”

Using Coaching in the Classroom

Group coaching (done in the classroom):• The class has a problem. • How should the class solve this problem?• (Brainstorming process)• Can anyone not live with that plan?• And later: “How’s the plan working? Do we

need to tweak the plan or make changes?”

The Coaching Approach

• Empowers coachees to decide for themselves what they are going to do and why.

• Creates buy-in from the coachee(s).• Encourages self-determination and is

psychologically strengthening.• The coach does not have to be the expert. The

coach needs only to elicit the coachee’s expertise to solve the coachee’s problem.

Selected ResearchField, S. et al (2009). Quantifying the Effectiveness of Coaching for College Students with Attention

Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Unpublished report to the Edge Foundation.

Grant, A. (2009). The Evidence for Coaching. Second Annual Conference on Coaching presented by Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital, September, 2009.

Hallowell, E. M., & Ratey, J. J. (1994). Driven to distraction: Recognizing and coping with attention deficit disorder from childhood to adulthood. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Kovach, K., & Wilgosh, L. (1999). Learning and study strategies, and performance anxiety in postsecondary students with learning disabilities: A preliminary study. Developmental Disabilities Bulletin, 27(1), 46-57.

Levrini, A. (2008). ADHD Coaching with College Students. Unpublished dissertation.

Parker, D. R. & Boutelle, K. (2009). Executive Function Coaching for College Students with LD and ADHD: A New Approach for Fostering Self-Determination, Learning Disabilities Research & Practice.

Swartz, S.L., Prevatt, F., & Proctor, B.E. (2005). A coaching intervention for college students with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Psychology in the Schools, 42, 647-656.

Weinstein, C. E., Schutte, A. C., & Palmer, D. P. (1987). Learning and Study Strategies Inventory, (LASSI). Clearwater, FL: H & H Publishing.

Zwart, L.M., & Kallemeyn, L.M. (2001). Peer-based coaching for college students with ADHD and learning disabilities. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 15, 1–15.

The Edge Foundation• The Edge Foundation was founded in 2007 to bring

specially trained, qualified coaches together with every student with ADHD who might need help mastering their school work, their time, their things, and themselves.

• All Edge coaches undergo 20-30 hours of ICF-approved Edge Foundation coach training from the country’s pre-eminent trainer of life coaches for young people with ADHD.

• Additionally, Edge Foundation coaches receive 6 months of supervision as they get started working with Edge clients.

• The Edge Foundation offers Coaching Skills for Non-Coaches training, which also trains participants to identify when students may need more intensive coaching.

Contact Us

www.EdgeFoundation.org2017 Fairview Avenue East, Suite I

Seattle WA 98102

info@EdgeFoundation.org