For counselors, principals & Title I coordinators
Ninth grade is where the gap becomes permanent.
It's the first year grades count toward graduation, and the year students who've never been taught to plan, prioritize, or self-manage start falling behind in ways that compound.
New Agenda brings a structured, evidence-based executive function coaching program directly to the ninth graders your school is least equipped to catch: kids who don't qualify for an IEP, aren't reached through Medicaid, and are easy to miss until the semester's already lost.
A 20-minute call with the New Agenda team. No commitment, just a fit conversation for your school.
11 weeks
1:1 coaching curriculum, delivered virtually or on campus
Grade 9
The single highest-leverage year to intervene
Pre / Post
Measured with the Brown Executive Function/Attention Scale
The problem
The students furthest from support carry the most invisible risk.
Executive function (planning, prioritization, and self-regulation) is one of the strongest predictors of whether a student stays on track academically. It's rarely taught directly, and the students who need it most are often the ones no existing support structure reaches.
Special education has eligibility criteria. Medicaid-funded services have their own. Most schools' informal safety net (an attentive teacher, an involved parent, a free tutoring slot) depends on circumstances many of your students don't have. New Agenda was built specifically for the students who fall between every one of those systems.
Built for students who are
01
Economically disadvantaged
Title I enrollment, without the family resources to buy private tutoring or coaching outside school.
02
Diagnosed with ADHD, without an IEP
Executive function challenges are real and documented, but don't meet the threshold for special education services.
03
Not reached through Medicaid
Falls outside the population served by Medicaid-funded behavioral or clinical interventions.
04
In ninth grade, right now
The first year grades count toward graduation and college eligibility, the narrowest window to change the trajectory.
What your school gets
A complete coaching program, not a workshop.
Every component is built to fit inside a real school schedule and to give your staff visibility into what's actually changing for the student.
Format
11 weeks, one student at a time
Individual coaching sessions, delivered virtually or in person, built around a defined skill-building sequence rather than a generic study-skills talk.
Scheduling
Flexible delivery
Sessions can run during an advisory period, a free block, or after school, whatever fits your bell schedule and staffing.
Onboarding
Family & staff onboarding
Parents and school staff are brought in at the start, so the coaching is reinforced at home and in the classroom, not siloed in a single hour a week.
Reporting
Weekly progress feedback
Your counseling team gets a regular read on how each student is progressing, not just a summary at the end of the semester.
Why it works
Executive function is the lever underneath everything else.
A student can be capable and still fail a class because nothing taught them how to plan for it. Strengthening that one skill set has a downstream effect on everything a transcript measures.
1
Executive function coaching
Direct, measured skill-building in planning, prioritization, and self-regulation.
2
Academic performance
Assignments turned in, classes passed, GPA stabilized in the year it counts most.
3
Academic progression
On-track credit accumulation through graduation and into postsecondary enrollment.
4
Economic mobility
Completion, not just enrollment, of postsecondary education or training.
Completion is the outcome that matters.
A student who enrolls in college but doesn't finish captures little of the economic benefit. That's why New Agenda measures progress against the Brown Executive Function/Attention Scale before and after coaching, so your school sees evidence of change, not just a certificate of participation.
Implementation
Built to run inside a real school year.
✓
Reports back in language your team can use.
Progress updates are written for counselors and administrators, not just for internal files.
✓
Coordinated with your counseling team.
Referrals, scheduling, and progress updates run through the staff you already trust with student data.
✓
Runs alongside your schedule.
Coaching slots into an existing block, with no new class period required.
✓
Families are part of the loop.
Parent onboarding means the skills coached at school get reinforced at home.
Getting started
What approval looks like at your school.
Most schools move from first conversation to a running cohort within a semester. Here's the actual sequence.
01
Contact Us
A 20-minute call with the New Agenda team to walk through your student population, schedule, and what a pilot could look like.
02
Fit assessment
We help identify which students meet the program's criteria and confirm the logistics: timing, space, virtual or in-person delivery.
03
Staff & family communication plan
We provide the materials your counseling team needs to introduce the program to families and get consent in place.
04
Cohort launch
Coaching begins on the agreed schedule, with weekly progress updates back to your team from week one.
Contact us
Bring this to your students.
Talk to the New Agenda team about what a pilot at your school could look like: for approval, scheduling, or just to see if it's a fit.
Phone
804-223-0130Request a fit call
Share a few details and the New Agenda team will reach out to set up a 20-minute conversation.