Executive skills are the cognitive abilities that make it possible for people to set goals, regulate impulses, and complete the steps necessary to achieve their objectives. Examples of these skills include time management, emotional control, and organization. Participants gain an understanding of their executive skills profiles and use the coaching sessions to define goals and monitor progress.  The grantees involved in the pilot project were:

  • New Moms, a job-training, housing, and family-support program in Chicago
  • Teen Parent Connection (TPC), a support network for pregnant or parenting teens in state custody in the metropolitan Atlanta area
  • Women’s Resource Center, a program offering various career and educational services to single mothers in Grand Rapids, Michigan who are involved in the criminal justice system

Overall, the grantees described the pilot project as a positive experience — and in many cases a transformative one. Coaches found that ESC helped them to approach their practice more systematically and to clarify their role. They believed it empowered participants in a way that traditional case management does not.

Read the full article about executive skills coaching by Nadine Dechausay at MDRC.