Personalized academic coaching.

Give your child the tools to succeed.

Personalized academic coaching.

Time management, organizational, planning, and study skills.
These are the tools that pave the way to every student’s success, in school, college, and beyond. Luckily, these are skills that can be taught, strengthened, and mastered… with the right help.

Say goodbye to unhealthy stress, over-scheduling, sleep deprivation, and missed assignments.
And say hello to Lesley Martin. Lesley has been working directly with students, both at home and in school, to help them manage their time and workload for over 15 years. She uses proven strategies for long-term academic success based on research and her own extensive experiences. Learn more about Lesley.
Each student is unique. Your child needs a customized program to address needed areas of improvement in his or her own learning style. Lesley works directly with your child to determine the best path to success, coaching him or her on how to get there and coaching you on how to provide the most effective support.

Testimonials

I can heartily recommend Lesley Martin as an academic coach. My daughter is a freshman at Berkeley High and was overwhelmed at the end of December. She has ADHD and had trouble just keeping everything organized and not using her time well. Lesley has helped her tremendously with her organizational skills, study habits, and prioritization. She really cares and has created a supportive relationship with my daughter who can be prickly and not open to suggestions (at least with her parents :-)). She was also a huge help in keeping her on track during a recent family crisis when I could not be there enough. Lesley is based in San Francisco. My daughter has traveled on BART a couple of times to meet with her in person, but usually they talk weekly on the weekends via Facetime or Google Hangout. Lesley creates a Google Doc with notes on the talk and goals for the coming week. She usually touches base with me by phone after the talk as well. She has also helped coach me in asking for help from my daughter’s teachers, which has been important in her improvement.

Elizabethmother of 9th grader

Lesley helped me immensely to get my sophomore year back on track after a rough start.
She helped me stay organized and get my work in complete and on time so that I could show my teachers what I knew.

Maxsophomore

Mimimother of 9th grader

Lesley knows students.

She’s been working with them for over 15 years.

Lesley’s previous roles include classroom teacher, personal tutor, and track & field coach. In other words, she’s worked with students in every capacity and understands the impact that school and activities have on their lives. She’s well-versed in the challenges that middle and high school students face today, and she knows how to address them.

She understands how teenage minds work. In fact, she wrote two books on it. Where’s my Stuff? and Make the Grade focus on organization and time management, different ways kids learn, getting and staying motivated, methods to avoid procrastination, goal setting, study skills, and more.

She also created ClassTracker®. These Customized Academic Planners are currently used by over 30,000 students annually in the Bay Area. Working with over 30 public and private schools gives Lesley unique insight into how each school works, and what each student needs to flourish within it.

She also understands how you, the parent, can help. You play an important role in your child’s success. Lesley will work with you on how to best support your child just the right amount to help them thrive.

Books and Products

Make the Grade

Every teacher, school, and class is unique, but there are certain things that successful students have in common no matter what.

Make the Grade: Everything You Need to Study Better, Stress Less, and Succeed in School helps students everywhere stay on top of schoolwork by dissecting the school week as students actually experience it, and offering realistic solutions to common problems, from difficult teachers and over-booked schedules to boring homework and the endless variety of distractions. The book also includes sections on memory tricks, reading tips, note-taking, organization, and test preparation.

“Help is on the way for teens wanting to do better in school. . .this can be a valuable guide for tutors, academic coaches and teachers of study-skills courses looking for a systematic and informative handbook.An earnest, comprehensive and ‘everything-you-need’ compendium.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Using her background as a high-school social-studies teacher, Martin offers solutions for the ever more demanding job of balancing high school and extracurricular activities. From setting goals to learning about expectations, and from getting organized to acing the test, her ideas are practical, straightforward, and easily implemented. . .Used as part of a study skills course, the book could reach a broad audience of students, many of whom could benefit from Martin’s suggestions.”—Booklist

Where's My Stuff

Where’s My Stuff? The Ultimate Teen Organizational Guide gives comprehensive advice on how to organize school work, lockers, bedrooms, and even one’s schedule. With fun and useful illustrations, easy-to-follow charts, and ample doses of humor, Where’s My Stuff? is an incredible asset for anyone who wants to get it together…and keep it together, for good.

✳“The ultimate organizing guide that shows you how to take control of your school stuff, time and activities, and your room in a step-by-step, easy-to-understand manner.”–Justine Magazine

Product

Ultimate Student Planner

Working directly with students, I have a perfected a planner that will help you stay on top of assignments, extra curricular activities, key deadlines and daily tasks. As a result you are able to better organize your work and activities so you are able to take control of your overly-scheduled life.

Services

How Academic Coaching Works

It starts with a free consultation. Lesley will spend 15-20 minutes with you (over the phone) and and 15-20 minutes with your child (over video) to diagnose challenges and determine together if her services are a good fit for your child. Schedule a free consultation.

The path to success is unique to your child. Each coaching program starts with an online assessment followed by a 45-60 minute Kick-Off Meeting to identify specific areas of focus and personal growth goals to be explored in subsequent meetings. Students meet with Lesley weekly for 20-minute Focused Coaching Meetings during which they discuss progress towards their goals and make a weekly plan for academic and life success

All meetings are held over video conference (Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom). Included with all packages:

Free initial consultation
Student assessment to evaluate strengths and challenges
Online coaching sessions tailored to meet individual need of student that include identifying the challenge, setting goals, making a plan, accountability for the plan, and providing support
Shared document (with student and parents) that includes meeting notes and weekly grade tracking
Email and SMS support
Monthly parent email report

Rather than targeting a specific scholastic subject, Lesley teaches the life-skills that students can use to succeed in all subjects, both in school and beyond. These areas of improvement can include:

Organization Skills
Time Management
Study and Learning Strategies
Setting up a Study Plan
Self-advocacy Skills with Teachers
Self Motivation
Dealing with Procrastination
Reading Strategies
Note Taking Strategies

Lesley Martin

Lesley Martin

Personalized academic coaching.

Give your child the tools to succeed.