Study Skills Coaching
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LIVE Study Skills Coaching for Middle and High School Students.
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Evidence-based.
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Designed for students who want to learn how to learn.
Your child is bright.
Their teachers know it.
You know it too.
But something isn't working...
The message parents share most often:
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Homework takes three hours when it should take one
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Assignments get started at 10 pm the night before they're due — or not at all
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Studying looks like reading and re-reading the same page without anything sticking
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Test results don't match the effort
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Organization is a daily source of stress
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The words "I'll do it later" have started to mean "I won't"
None of these are signs that your child isn't bright. They are signs that no one has taught them how to study, plan, and learn on purpose — because study skills are almost never taught explicitly in school.
The reality is that students are expected to 'figure out' how to study.
Some students do. Many don't. Most students benefit from being taught directly. The struggle isn't about intelligence—it's about the toolkit.
Many bright students hit a wall as school becomes more complex.
They haven't been taught how to organize their thoughts, approach new tasks, or even notice when they’re stuck. They are working hard, but they don’t have the metacognitive tools to bridge the gap.
What I actually teach
Study skills coaching is not tutoring. Tutoring focuses on a specific subject; coaching focuses on how your child approaches every subject.
In our sessions, I teach learners the specific strategies that decades of learning research have shown to work:
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Retrieval practice: how to study in a way that actually builds memory (not re-reading)
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Spaced practice: how to plan review so that studying two weeks before a test beats studying two nights before
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Metacognition: how to notice when you don't understand something and know what to do about it
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Task planning and time management: how to break a big assignment into achievable pieces
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Focus and attention strategies: how to work in a way that respects how the teenage brain actually functions
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Self-monitoring: how to know whether you're on track before it's too late
Every coaching session integrates instruction, practice on the student's real coursework, and gradual habit-building. By the end of the school year, most of my students manage their own workload with meaningfully less parent involvement — which is the goal.
Study Skills Coaching is the Right Fit for:
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Middle and high school students (Grades 6-12) who struggle with planning, focus, or follow-through
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Students whose grades don't reflect their effort or ability
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Students who "know the material" but who underperform on tests
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Families navigating the transition from Grade 8 to Grade 9, or from Grade 12 to university
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French Immersion students juggling academic demands in 2 or more languages
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Students preparing for the SAT or planning university applications who need study infrastructure alongside content
Study Skills Coaching is also the right fit for students who have received a psychoeducational assessment identifying weaknesses in executive function, working memory, or attention — the strategies I teach are grounded in the same evidence base that informs clinical recommendations.
How it works
Sessions are 45 or 60 minutes, either LIVE online or in person in the Greater Toronto Area.
Typical frequency is once a week during the school year. Some students see me twice a week during peak stress periods (exam season, university applications) and less often during lighter stretches.
Every session works on real coursework. We don't practice study skills on invented examples. Your child brings in their actual assignments, notes, or upcoming tests, and we work through the material using the strategies I teach.
Parents receive brief check-ins as needed. I share progress, name what's working, and flag what to watch for at home. Substantive conversations with parents outside of session time are handled through my Tier 2 Educational Consultation service.
What makes this different
Most study-skills programs are workbooks, apps, or short courses. What I offer is different in three ways:
1. Individualized. I do not deliver a generic curriculum. Every plan is built around your child's
specific subjects, teachers, learning history, and goals.
2. Evidence-based. I hold a PhD from OISE at the University of Toronto with research
grounded in the cognitive science of learning. Every strategy I teach has been validated by
decades of learning research — not passed down from what "worked for me in school."
3. Sustained. Study skills are habits, not information. My work with a student typically unfolds over a semester or full school year, with the intensity tapering as their independence grows.
The goal is not to make me indispensable — it's to make me unnecessary.
From a Great Brain Learning family
"Dr. June, I would not be the young man I am today without the work I've done with you, and I wanted to thank you. Now when I get a project or essay assigned, I know what to do and I don't put it off because I'm afraid I'll fail. I have the confidence to start and the confidence to try. I didn't learn that at school, I learned that from working with you. I know what strategies to use to start and keep going, one step at a time. I'm able to work hard, knowing that I'm on the right track. Thanks, Dr. June. I never thought that would happen, that I'm actually looking forward to graduating from high school and going to college."
— Theo*
Grade 12, Richmond Hill
Theo* began working with Dr. June in middle school as a reluctant student. Six years later, he headed to college after graduating from high school with a 90% average, with the tools and confidence to keep going.
*Name changed to protect student privacy.
Meet Dr. June Starkey
Dr. June Starkey OCT, PhD, is the founder of Great Brain Learning. She holds a doctorate from OISE at the University of Toronto with research grounded in language teaching and learning science, and has taught and coached students across Canada for the last two decades. She has experience teaching in the IB (MYP) program in Ontario, has taught in the Master of Teaching (MT) program at OISE, and has worked with more than 1,000 families across Canada. Her in-person work is located in the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario.
Questions & Answers