Academic Coaching: More Than Better Grades—Building the Skills to Become a Successful Learner

A student can be intelligent, motivated, and capable—and still struggle academically.

Sometimes the problem is not understanding the subject.

It is figuring out how to learn effectively.

A student may sit down to study but not know where to begin. Another may understand the material but repeatedly miss deadlines. A college student may spend hours reading yet have difficulty remembering what was studied. A high school student may procrastinate until assignments become overwhelming. Another student may simply say:

“I know I can do this. I just can't seem to get organized.”

These are situations in which academic coaching can make a meaningful difference.

What Is Academic Coaching?

Academic coaching is an individualized approach designed to help students develop the behaviors, strategies, and habits that support successful learning.

It is important to distinguish academic coaching from tutoring.

A tutor may help a student understand algebra, chemistry, Spanish, history, writing, or another specific subject. An academic coach can take a broader view and ask:

How are you approaching your learning?

That conversation may include time management, organization, study strategies, motivation, goal setting, self-advocacy, concentration, procrastination, accountability, and balancing multiple academic responsibilities.

Research provides support for this broader approach. In a randomized experiment involving students from multiple universities, Eric Bettinger and Rachel Baker found that individualized student coaching addressed areas including time management, self-advocacy, study skills, connecting daily activities with long-term goals, and developing a clear vision of those goals. Students assigned to coaching were more likely to persist in college, and the researchers found effects that continued after the coaching period ended.¹

Successful Students Learn How to Manage Their Own Learning

One of the most important goals of academic coaching should be helping students become increasingly independent.

This relates closely to what educational psychologists call self-regulated learning.

Self-regulated learners do more than complete assignments. They learn to plan, establish goals, monitor their progress, manage resources such as time and attention, evaluate whether their strategies are working, and adjust when necessary.

A 2021 meta-analysis examining 49 studies involving 5,786 university students found that self-regulated learning training programs improved academic performance as well as students' learning strategies and motivation. The researchers reported particularly meaningful effects in areas involving metacognitive strategies and resource management.²

Think about what that means in everyday student life.

Instead of simply saying:

“I have to study tonight.”

a student learns to ask:

What exactly do I need to accomplish?

How much time will I need?

Which material do I understand already?

Where am I struggling?

What study strategy should I use?

How will I know whether I actually learned it?

That is a very different approach to education.

From Elementary School to College

The specific needs of students change as they progress through school.

A younger student may need support developing routines, organizing materials, completing homework, understanding directions, and becoming more confident about asking questions.

Middle and high school students encounter increasing independence and complexity. They may be balancing several teachers, examinations, projects, extracurricular activities, social responsibilities, and decisions about their future.

College presents another major transition.

Professors may not remind students about every assignment. Reading loads increase. Long-term projects require planning. Students must manage schedules independently. They may also be balancing employment, family responsibilities, finances, and personal commitments.

Academic coaching can adapt to those changing needs.

What Can an Academic Coach Work on With a Student?

Depending on the student's age, needs, and educational goals, coaching may address areas such as:

Organization and time management — creating realistic schedules, prioritizing responsibilities, breaking large assignments into manageable steps, and developing systems for tracking deadlines.

Study strategies — identifying more effective approaches to reading, note-taking, reviewing material, preparing for examinations, and retaining information.

Goal setting — transforming a broad objective such as “I want better grades” into specific, realistic actions.

Motivation and accountability — examining what interferes with progress and establishing consistent routines for following through.

Academic confidence — helping students recognize strengths, evaluate setbacks constructively, and develop greater confidence in their ability to learn.

Self-advocacy — learning how to ask questions, communicate with teachers and professors, seek appropriate resources, and take greater responsibility for one's education.

Planning and executive skills — organizing tasks, estimating time, initiating work, maintaining attention, monitoring progress, and completing longer projects.

The objective is not to create dependence on the coach.

The objective is to help the student develop tools that gradually make the coach less necessary.

What Does the Research Say About Academic Coaching?

Academic coaching is more than an appealing educational idea; researchers have attempted to measure whether it actually works.

Bettinger and Baker conducted a randomized experiment involving individualized student coaching across public, private, and proprietary universities. They found that students randomly assigned to receive coaching were more likely to persist academically during the intervention and were also more likely to remain enrolled one year after coaching ended.¹

Research by Philip Oreopoulos and Uros Petronijevic provides another interesting finding. In an experiment involving more than 4,000 undergraduate students, researchers compared interventions including online exercises, text-message academic support, and personal coaching. The personal coaching group experienced substantial improvements in grades and GPA, while the lower-touch technology interventions did not produce comparable academic effects. The authors suggested that regular, proactive conversations and the development of trust may be important components of successful coaching.³

More recently, Campbell and Mogashana conducted a systematic review of academic coaching research in higher education. After screening hundreds of publications, 25 studies met their inclusion criteria. Their review identified characteristics associated with effective academic coaching interventions, including meaningful duration and the involvement of professional coaches.⁴

Together, this research suggests something important:

Students may benefit not only from receiving information about what they should do, but from having structured, individualized support as they learn how to do it.

Academic Coaching Is Not About Doing the Work for the Student

Effective academic coaching should never mean completing assignments, writing papers, solving homework problems, or making academic decisions for students.

Quite the opposite.

A coach might ask:

What is the assignment asking you to accomplish?

What part feels overwhelming?

What is your first step?

When will you complete it?

What happened the last time you tried this strategy?

What could you change this time?

These questions encourage the student to think.

The student remains responsible for the learning.

That distinction is essential because the ultimate goal is not simply completing tonight's homework.

It is developing a learner who can eventually say:

“I know what I need to do, I have a strategy for doing it, and I know what to change when my strategy isn't working.”

Every Student's Path Is Different

There is no single study method that works perfectly for every student.

Some students need help with organization. Others need confidence. Some need better study techniques. Others have strong academic skills but struggle to balance school with work and family responsibilities.

A student entering middle school will not have the same needs as a first-year college student.

And an adult returning to university after twenty years may face challenges that are entirely different from those of an 18-year-old freshman.

That is why academic coaching should begin with the individual.

What are your strengths?

Where are you struggling?

What have you already tried?

What are your goals?

And perhaps most importantly:

What kind of learner do you want to become?

Building Skills That Extend Beyond the Classroom

The benefits of developing strong learning habits can extend beyond a particular class or semester.

Planning, organization, persistence, self-reflection, goal setting, problem solving, and self-advocacy are useful in school—but they are also valuable in careers and everyday life.

Education is not simply about collecting grades.

It is about gradually becoming capable of directing your own learning.

At Elevate Your Path:

Life and Academic Coaching, we believe academic coaching should help students recognize their strengths, understand their challenges, develop effective learning strategies, and take greater ownership of their education.

Whether a student is navigating elementary or secondary school, preparing for college, adjusting to university expectations, returning to education as an adult, or simply trying to become a more confident and organized learner, the journey begins with understanding where they are today and identifying the next achievable step.

Academic success is not only about what you learn. It is also about learning how to learn.

Academic References

1. Bettinger, E. P., & Baker, R. B. (2014). The effects of student coaching: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student advising. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 36(1), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373713500523

This randomized study evaluated individualized coaching across multiple universities and examined student persistence and retention.

2. Theobald, M. (2021). Self-regulated learning training programs enhance university students' academic performance, self-regulated learning strategies, and motivation: A meta-analysis. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 66, 101976. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2021.101976

This meta-analysis included 49 studies and 5,786 participants and examined academic performance, motivation, and self-regulated learning strategies.

3. Oreopoulos, P., & Petronijevic, U. (2018). Student coaching: How far can technology go? Journal of Human Resources, 53(2), 299–329. https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.53.2.0916-8269R

This randomized study compared personal coaching with lower-touch technology-based academic interventions among more than 4,000 university students.

4. Campbell, A. L., & Mogashana, D. (2025). Assessing the effectiveness of academic coaching interventions for student success in higher education: A systematic review. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 62(4), 1325–1347. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2024.2417173

This systematic review examined peer-reviewed academic coaching research and identified characteristics associated with effective interventions.