What is Educational Coaching?
“Coaching” was introduced in Edward Hallowell and John Ratey’s book Driven to Distraction (1994) as a way of helping individuals understand and manage differences in learning and behavior. Nancy Ratey and Susan Sussman and others have developed coaching models that are effective for adults. However, until now, there have been no models with a consistent core or methodology specifically for use with youth and families. First noted in the literature as the KanDoo™ program in Exceptional Lives (Turnbull, et.al, 1999), Take Charge!™ Educational Coaching offers a twelve-lesson, strength-based methodology that provides educational and motivational strategies and tools for students who struggle to learn and their families. The Take Charge!™ model is best described as a hybrid of family systems counseling, from which it borrows alliance cultivation, focus on affect, the asking of questions, and the understanding of the person in context; and special education, from which it borrows strength-ba
