Susan V. Schaefer, M.Ed., M.A.T, Founder & CEO
I’m Sue Schaefer, the founder of Academic Coaching Associates (ACA).
I started ACA in 2008 with a vision of helping students succeed who underperform in school because of executive function difficulties.
Personally, I struggled in school — missed assignments, performed poorly on tests even after studying for hours, and lost focus in class. In college, things did not improve. I worked harder than I ever had in my life, and, still, my grades were below average.
Realizing I could not do this on my own I finally reached out for help. Through this self-advocacy, I learned to manage my time better, found an organizational system that worked, and developed good study strategies. My grades went up and so did my confidence. It was then that I discovered my love of learning. After earning two master’s degrees in education I taught as a tenured classroom teacher.
I am proud to be a pioneer in the field of academic and executive function coaching. My quest has remained steady over the years, to help struggling students who find school frustrating and difficult, like I did, succeed and thrive in an academic setting.
Our Approach to Academic Coaching
Many issues in a student’s life may negatively impact academic performance. For students to have the ability to concentrate on academics, it is often necessary to help them overcome these other obstacles as well. This is why our Whole Student approach is the cornerstone of our philosophy at Academic Coaching Associates.
We make sure to familiarize ourselves with each student’s academics, of course, but also the many other activities they are balancing: social issues, sports team commitments, jobs, and extracurricular activities, in addition to learning issues, and/or emotional difficulties the student may have.
Assessing a student’s learning styles and academic strengths and weaknesses completes the individual student profile and provides the necessary information to create a plan for success.
We truly mentor our students. Overall, our goal is to help students become more independent and self-reliant. We help students gain the skills and motivation they need to help themselves.
See how we work to keep parents informed, students motivated, and school supports on board.