John Franklin & Alicia Franklin

Objectives: An earlier study by Franklin and Doran (2009) provided the first evidence that coaching benefits objective performance as assessed by evaluators’ blind to participation in coaching. This study examines the efficacy of two coaching programs on independently evaluated academic performance 12 and 18 months after the completion of coaching.

Design: A double blind control trial in which participants were randomly allocated to either a Preparation, Action, Adaptive Learning (PAAL), or a Self-Regulation co-coaching program with blind assessment of subsequent academic performance. A third no-treatment condition was used for additional comparison and control of expectancy effects.

Methods: Two structurally identical 7 week co-coaching programs were run. The Self-regulation condition focused on the development of study and coping skills, whilst the PAAL condition additionally focused on preparation for change and adaptive learning. 52 volunteer first year university students were randomly assigned to either a PAAL (n=27) or Self-regulation (n=25) co-coaching program. Academic results 12 and 18 months after completing the brief coaching program are compared with a control group of students (n=2183 at 12 months, 2063 at 18 mths.) who did not participate in the program.

Results: Relative to the no treatment control group, PAAL participants consistently performed some 10% better in independently assessed academic performance at both the 12-month follow-up (71.04% vs. 61.29%) (p=<.001, d =.60), and the 18 month follow-up (70.97% vs. 60.48%) (p=<.001, d =.66). The Self-regulation coaching participants performed some 2% better than the controls at both the 12month follow-up (62.98% vs. 61.29%) (p=NS, d = .10) and the 18 month follow-up (62.11% vs. 60.48%) (p=NS, d = .11).

Conclusion: Both co-coaching conditions were associated with increases in blindly assessed academic performance, however only those in the PAAL condition performed significantly better 12 and 18 months after the completion of the brief coaching program. The effects of the PAAL Coaching method need to be evaluated in other areas where outcomes may be objectively and blindly assessed.

Keywords: Coaching; maintenance; follow-up; RCT; Double Blind Randomized Control Trial; academic performance.

Full article: Volume 7, Issue 1 pages 33 - 38