ModernBrain supports speech at schools.

If you're a coach, teacher, or administrator, we'll help bring your program to the next level.

What's our relationship with schools?

ModernBrain is an after school enrichment company. We want to make things as easy as possible for students to develop skills as verbal and written communicators. As part of this work, we help students from hundreds of schools across America. Some (like Astra Nova) asked us to run online public speaking enrichment classes. Others (like Polytechnic School and Valley International Prep) hired us to coach specialized competition teams. Many are connected through us through the Irvine Public Schools Foundation.

Some schools have a substandard relationship with extracurricular coaches. In many cases, it's because of an adversarial relationship with the school's assigned teacher (who might be juggling multiple core classes in addition to coaching duty) and the third-party coach (who might not communicate clearly with the teacher about their methods and goals for their shared students). We don't want that. Our core value of expertise drives us to create open, systematized relationships with our school-based clients. Adult-to-adult miscommunication should never get in the way of a student's success.

What services do we offer schools?

Some schools hire us to run our normal courses (for example, a semester-long speech comprehensive class) on their campuses or with their students online. We have six-, twelve-, sixteen-, and eighteen-hour versions of each course. If you're interested, look over our course catalogue and then email us at [email protected] to set up a new class.

We also have a special offer for small groups of students from established speech programs (defined as a competitive, competition-based program that already has an advisor and administrative support) who want to become more successful at speech and debate tournaments. This is an affordable way to gain speech skills over a semester: school-based competition pods.

Our instructors prioritize professionalism. As with any of our classes, they have to complete certification courses with the National Federation of State High School Associations before they'll be assigned.

What are our school-based competition pods?

How do they work? Students from the same school sign up in groups of three to five with the written endorsement of their speech teacher/administrator. They’re assigned a right-fit coach from ModernBrain’s roster of coaches. They meet up to twice a week for two hours at a time (during the summer) or once a week for two hours at a time (during each semester of the school year) with the coach, developing skills and polishing performances. We can help in mock trial, all NSDA/CHSSA/NOF speech events, and all NSDA/CHSSA/NOF debate events.

How much do they cost? It’s $1462.50 for a total of 36 hours of coaching (per student). Students sign up for one semester at a time. This is a reduced time commitment/yearly cost relative to our normal Nationals Team classes because it requires less administrative work on our end after the initial agreement is made.

When do they happen? Students who sign up will be assigned to two time slots throughout the week (for example, Monday and Wednesday from 12 PM to 2 PM PST) during the summer or one time slot throughout the week (for example, Thursdays from 4:30-6:30 PM PST) during the fall or spring semesters. Our schedule will mirror our regular semester class schedule; for instance, in the summer of 2022, all students will start meeting during the week of 6/12 and stop during the week of 8/5.

How can we join? Get three to five students who would feel comfortable working together, have the school's adult representative's explicit written endorsement, and will be available throughout the same two hour time slots. If a student has to miss a class or two, that’s fine. Once you have the students, the school's representative (ideally, the teacher) should email [email protected] and you’ll get some forms to fill out. When you fill them out, you’ll be set.

What if I have questions? Email [email protected] and/or make a free 15-minute Zoom meeting to see if this is right for your team.

Click here to sign up for your free 15-minute school consultation.