Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachael Barron.
Hi Rachael, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am so honored to share my story, although I feel like it’s still being written daily. I grew up in cities along the east coast and Europe. My father was in international business so we had great living experiences in different countries like Belgium and Italy as well as states from Kentucky, Connecticut and Northern Virginia, DC area. My journey to Atlanta occurred when I attended Emory University—and I never left! Why would you?
After graduation, I worked in business development and sales, where my experience ranged from small companies to Fortune 1000 organizations. When our first son was born, he had a disability that was ultimately diagnosed as cerebral palsy, and so I was thrust into the world of education. I had to find ways he could learn, strategies that worked for him, and I would never be satisfied with the status quo.
After having pursued niche educational and therapeutic solutions for him, I eventually became an educational advocate, working with a law firm specializing in civil rights work specific to education. I worked for over six years solving very complex educational solutions for many families, public schools, and private schools. One of the highlights of advocacy work was having the privilege of being involved in the launch of several boutique special education schools, as well as successfully advocating for the passing of SB10. Advocacy work was quite fulfilling but over time, it was pulling me away from my three boys.
In working with my boys, who eventually attended specialty schools for students with dyslexia, plus my advocacy clients, I noticed that many students were struggling to manage school demands due to their lack of executive functioning skills. Executive function is often overlooked, even going unmentioned, leaving students without these vital skills that they will need not only in education, but also in life. The lack of these skills can create a negative educational experience for students.
I was led to working directly with students when I observed the lack of quality executive function instruction and found a desire to make an impact for these students. Effective Students was born. At Effective Students, seek to change the negative relationship and experience with education to a positive one with specialized instruction and personalized coaching.
Executive functioning skills are central to the work of Effective Students. Executive functions are neurologically-based skills that enable us to evaluate resources, plan, and follow through competently. These critical skills are necessary for students to be able to evaluate their resources, make a plan, and follow through with school work, post-secondary planning, and even simple tasks like arriving at school prepared on a daily basis.
When students are trained on executive functions as a set of processes, students can become independent, confident, and self-directed learners. To accomplish this, we utilize academic coaching, which differs from traditional tutoring that only gives short-term, inconsistent results. It’s the difference between teaching a person to fish vs. feeding them for a day.
Now in our ninth year of working with students, Effective Students has grown to offer one-on-one academic coaching, Effective Student Workshops, Grit and Growth Mindset Camps, a curriculum for educators to use, and specialized college admissions counseling.
My responsibilities now include leading our amazing team of coaches composed of educators and professionals and providing solutions to families who need support throughout the metro area. We serve families in our satellite offices in Roswell, College Park, and Cumblerand headquarters, as well as supporting our team in our new location in Charlotte, North Carolina and our college students virtually.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been said that necessity is the mother of invention and experience is the best teacher. I’m proud that my path, no matter how challenging, allows me to empathize with parents who are supporting their own children. When I speak to educators and parents alike, it’s a privilege to be able to say that I have a lot of material developed from my own home and personal experience..
This hasn’t come easily, though. Raising kids is challenging. Raising kids and working is also challenging. Raising kids with learning differences and disabilities, while trying to stay married, is exceptionally challenging. Add starting a business, and the pressure only increases.
Challenges are opportunities for growth. When starting a business, it’s common for the founder to wear all the hats from sales to service delivery and accounting and any other business need you can name. A strong team is needed. It takes time to put together a team you can trust and who trust you, and finding the people who are the right fit for our culture takes practice and the willingness to fail.
There are a few key takeaways I learned while building the Effective Students team, including:
-
Not each at bat is a homerun, but you can still learn from it.
-
Empowering your team to show you things you can’t see or aren’t willing to see is critical.
-
Be teachable. We can’t encourage kids to do things we ourselves aren’t willing to do.
The process has been incredibly rewarding, but, at times, it’s been tough. Now, on the other side and with my kids successfully out on their own, I can better empathize with what other parents are experiencing and help them navigate the waters. It’s not without its challenges. Parents often come to us when things with their students are not going well, or a student is struggling.
There is often frustration from both the parent perspective and student perspective, so we work alongside them to overcome these feelings and navigate their relationships. We consider it a privilege to help them through difficult times, equipping the student with skills to manage their academics and promote success while helping the parent communicate with their student in clear, stress-free ways.
We have an incredible team of coaches who bring a diverse skill set in addition to being trained in the Effective Student Method™. Our intake process enables us to pair a student with a coach who is a personality and skill-based fit.
We’ve been impressed with Effective Students, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Effective Students is known for being able to help each learner find the skills and motivation they need to succeed at school. Our amazing team has worked with a variety of students, from those who are at the most risk to those who attend Ivy League institutions.
We designed a standardized process against which we can measure student independence with academic management skills, then we enlist the students in the process of improving their executive functions. This is no easy feat when you’re talking to a fourteen-year-old.
What sets Effective Students apart is our commitment to parent-teacher-student-coach collaboration. Each party plays a critical role in the student’s success, so we navigate those relationships to build a supportive network around the student. We do not design our programs to be a long-term part of the student’s life, but instead we train the student to become an independent learner that can persevere on their own.
Effective Students is in the business of moving a student stuck in position A to a degree of independence, aka position B. We do this through a four step process
-
Teaching students skills which includes why and how it helps
-
Coaching them to become proficient applying the skills,
-
Fostering supported independence while they practice doing it on their own and
-
Generalizing the skills to new environments which is considered mastery.
When students succeed at each of these steps, we succeed.
Today, we continue to innovate to build the services that students so desperately need. Our instructional team is empowered with the tools they need to help students realize their true potential. Our school partners, including Lovett and The Swift School, host programs like Grit and Growth Mindset camps, helping younger students develop social-emotional skills.
Effective Students now offers the following services for students:
-
1:1 coaching for executive function skills and academic improvement
-
Effective Student Workshops for study skills
-
Grit & Growth Mindset Camps to develop social-emotional skills
-
Custom-developed materials such as planners, workbooks, and tab sets
-
College Admissions Counseling for students with learning differences
We also offer services tailored to parents, including:
-
Executive function overview for parent groups and PTAs
-
Small groups to address parenting students with executive function challenges that focus on how to develop these skills within themselves and with their own children.
For educators, we provide:
-
Executive Function Presentations and continuing education for staff development
-
Effective Student Workshops and online course for Instructors
-
Executive Function Curricula Instructor Manuals and relevant student materials.
What’s next?
Our plans for the future are to continue to meet the needs of families in and around metro Atlanta and Charlotte. We’ll stay up-to-date on the latest in academic coaching and continue to hone our practice for maximum student success.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Effective Students had additional satellite locations in Alpharetta/Forsyth, Gwinnett, and South Fulton and other metro areas in the Southeast in the future.
Contact Info:
-
Website: https://effectivestudents.com/
-
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
effectivestudents/ -
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/
company/effective-students-by- w3-connections/?viewAsMember= true
