It starts with a disappointing report card or parent-teacher conference. When you find out your child is struggling in school, options for intervention strategies are nebulous. But what does your child actually need to get back on track? In this blog post, we explain two of the most common types of support for struggling students: academic coaching and tutoring.
Academic coaching is not tutoring; tutoring is not academic coaching. These two types fo help combat different problems and propose different solutions. Parents of struggling students must understand the respective domains of academic coaching and tutoring to support their children. Just like a hammer won’t fix a problem that requires a screwdriver, a tutor won’t fix a problem that requires an academic coach. The diagnosis determines the appropriate medicine.
Traditional Tutoring
Every student hits an academic brick wall at some point. Whether it’s seventh-grade algebra, high school chemistry, or AP English Literature, academic obstacles are unavoidable. Not every student is built the same way. Moreover, not every subject is taught the same way. The most diligent, capable student will eventually face a class that feels impossible. This is where academic coaching can help bridge the gap between confusion and understanding.
Traditional tutoring is about specialization. These subject matter experts have one job: translate complex materials into a comprehensible form. Although the range of help may vary slightly, tutors are concerned with results, not processes. Tutoring helps students master a particular subject or score within a certain range on a specific exam. Tutors have targeted knowledge in a specific subject area. Whether that subject is an academic discipline or a standardized exam (SAT, ACT, etc.), tutors resolve short-term problems. They build expertise, convey test-specific tactics, and achieve short-term results.
The vast majority of tutors cannot or will not help with long-term results. While a traditional tutor can provide a band-aid solution for a calculus exam or the ACT, they cannot help students beyond their range of expertise. Effectively, most tutors provide a band-aid solution. If a student can’t figure out calculus or AP History, a Band-Aid will suffice. But what about students who struggle with more than one class? What about students who get the desired grade but lack the compensatory skills (organization, time management, etc.) to thrive in the long run?
Academic Coaching
At Illuminos, we look beyond the next test, beyond this class, and beyond this school year. Our goal is to help students develop the critical skills necessary to thrive in any academic or professional environment. Illuminos offers academic coaching. More specifically, we offer coaching in the four pillars of Executive Function(EF): organization, time management, study skills, and impression management.
Academic coaching teaches students systems and strategies that apply to all classes. For instance, a student who struggles in chemistry and AP English Literature could benefit from two subject-matter experts. However, that might not be the best approach. Looking behind the curtain (at a student’s report card) may reveal a unifying theme between chemistry and English. Students may struggle to turn assignments in on time, deconstruct long-term projects, or build rapport with the teacher. Struggles outside the stoichiometry or poetry analysis call for the expertise of an academic coach, not a tutor.
Perhaps the key distinction between an academic coaching and traditional tutoring is the expected outcome. Tutors work with objective, short-term outputs – a test score or a final average. Academic coaches work with students to develop confidence, self-sufficiency, and long-term growth. While tutors concern themselves with one class and one class only, academic coaches care for the whole student. Academic coaches understand that a less-than-ideal geometry grade might not be about a student’s fluency with the Pythagorean theorem. Academic problems are measured in GPAs and letter grades, but they result from intangibles.
A student’s report card assesses more than academic performance; it measures Executive Function. All other things equal, a student with excellent Executive Function will outperform a student who lacks these vital compensatory skills. Academic coaches capitalize on the disproportionate role EF skills play in student performance.
What Does My Child Need? A Tutor or an Academic Coach?
The information above should help determine what kind of support your child needs. For students who have an isolated problem with a particular subject, a traditional tutor makes sense. For students who struggle with a range of subjects or who aren’t performing at their potential, an academic coach is a smart move. Take stock of your child’s performance. Is it a process problem or a concept problem? Process problems are rooted in EF skills. Concept problems hinge on the contours of the class itself. For almost every student, the process matters much more than the concepts of this test, this class, or this school year.
Process problems may lie dormant for many years. Talented students who lack compensatory skills like organization and time management often hide their EF deficiencies with raw intelligence or social savviness. They might downplay low homework and participation grades, pointing to their excellent test averages as proof of mastery. Likewise, smart students can mask process problems through a combination of social maneuvering and short-term willpower. These students recover from zeroes and late grades with extra credit and clutch cumulative exam performance. They downplay parental and teacher concerns by appealing to the ends and ignoring the means. “The results were fine, so the process doesn’t matter,” they claim. Year by year, these clever kiddos recover until they can’t.
In the end, the process is more important than the results. Students who struggle to stay organized, manage their workload, prioritize the right tasks, and garner social capital from teachers, parents, and peers run out of luck. Academic coaching helps capable students demonstrate their abilities. It helps students develop the core skills that transcend the classroom. When a struggling student has the content down, it’s time to turn to an academic coach. EF skills ensure capable students perform at their potential. Skilled academic coaches guide students through the school year, sure, but they set they look beyond this term. Academic coaches, unlike traditional tutors, encourage success beyond the classroom. So, what kind of help does your child need? Academic coaching or tutoring?
Illuminos’ Research-Driven Academic Coaching Program
We provide in-home, one-on-one academic coaching services for capable students who need process help. We teach students Executive Functioning skills while supporting their homework and subject matter needs. Our flagship research-based Executive Function (EF) curriculum can help your child succeed through our emphasis on core competencies that transcend the classroom. We provide the structure, motivation, and accountability to help capable students bridge the gap between their potentialareport cards.
Executive Functioning skills are crucial for children to succeed academically and in life. We can help children develop these skills by creating a structured and supportive environment, providing supportive feedback, and encouraging self-sufficiency. At Illuminos, we offer personalized, one-on-one academic coaching that focuses on developing Executive Functioning skills for the long-haul
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your child develop Executive Functioning skills and succeed academically and in life. For more information on Executive Function, please visit our services page or read our other posts.