February 8, 2019
Academic Achievement Center welcomes managing director of Academic Coaching Program
Jessica Kerr is the managing director of the Academic Achievement Center's Academic Coaching Program.
Kerr earned her bachelor's degree in English and teaching certification from University of Illinois at Chicago, her master's degree in curriculum and instruction from K-State, and is a doctoral student in educational leadership. She has served as an academic coach with the Academic Achievement Center and has worked as an instructor and collaborator in student success curriculum development with K-State First. Before coming to K-State, Kerr worked as a literacy specialist and as a high school English teacher with the Chicago Public Schools.
In 2018, the Academic Coaching Program launched a new coaching framework designed to support all K-State students. Drawing from best-practice tools for academic success, the program utilizes an individual, goal based coaching cycle where students self-Identify areas of academic and personal need to focus on during their one-on-one meetings.
"We know successful university students employ a host of global, metacognitive tools, and reflexively manage themselves in relationship to their learning," Kerr said. "We in academic coaching believe that through deliberate, one- on-one meetings, all students can build the capacity to achieve academic and personal success. We have found that the rigor of the framework, along with the connectedness of the Academic Success Tools, often exits confident, competent learners who have moved beyond the scope of coaching relationship and are capable of communicating personal needs, accessing supplementary university support resources, and advocating for themselves to graduation."
The Academic Achievement Center is excited to see how Kerr's leadership will continue to strengthen the program and impact the campus community.
For more information about the Academic Achievement Center or academic coaching, visit k-state.edu/aac or 101 Holton Hall.