by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director

The final afternoon of the 2010 Summer Training Institute was focused on a 3-hour session that was designed to bring together the information attendees gained throughout the week through the process of creating their own personal business plan.  Recognizing that most who enter the field of educational consulting do so with a passion for students and knowledge of counseling, attendees welcomed this final opportunity to examine the small business development aspect of starting a practice.

I shared the teaching for this unit with marketing guru and IECA member Lisa Bleich.  Among the exercises completed, attendees examined their personal reasons for entering the field and crafted mission statements, set goals and specific objectives and examined the external community traits that impact consulting.  Attendees examined the benefits of students using web-based, school-based or corporate-based advising in order to better understand the landscape.  Each completed a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) analysis based on their 4 days of learning.

The business plan also had participants examine traditional and new media marketing techniques, start-up costs for establishing a practice as well as on-going expenses, particularly in the early years while a practice is being built.

While plans were hardly complete at the end of the exercise, the 93 attendees left with the basic components of a business plan in hand, along with a cohort of colleagues from across the country and around the world with whom they shared the institute.  Many anticipate continuing their learning at the upcoming IECA Fall Conference in Ohio.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

The attendees at the IECA Summer Training Institute found themselves facing a series of ethical conundrums this morning. Drawn from actual cases from IECA’s files, the participants had to look inward to ensure they practice using ethical and professional approaches.

One case explored the need to meet obligations to schools and programs sponsoring campus tours and events.  Another examined the appropriateness of consultants hosting events for client families and admission representatives.  With IECA maintaining the strictest standards (which forbid actions that heighten student and parent anxiety), one case examined a consultant who uses fear, anxiety and pressure at community gatherings to get parents to ‘sign up.’  Further, she promises to use her “secrets” to assure success.  Consultants saw the ethical violation and pledged to only work for good matches and assure families that “great colleges exist for every student.”

The attendees also explored the interactions among consultants.  They read a case dealing with the obligations a consultant has to professional colleagues, and interactions via the IECA TalkList.  This created spirited conversation as members balance the need to share evidence of their research and effort with the need to protect clients’ privacy.

Ethics was presented throughout the weeklong training as the topic was worked in to every instructional session.  This morning, as the STI examined the growth of ‘new media’ and social networking, the ethics of using such technologies and linking with student clients was examined.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

Yesterday afternoon the IECA Summer Training Institute turned the process around as the 94 attendees got to hear what life is like for those involved in recruiting and evaluating potential clients in a session titled, Inside the Admissions Office.

In the college session, three leaders came to share insights: Erin Finn, vice president for admissions at Drexel University, who explained the changing nature of admissions as offices look for ways to balance the entering class while filling campus needs. She noted the possibility of hearing from a band director that the harpist is graduating and admissions should be on the lookout for a new harpist. Conversely, she noted the school is not going to admit six amazing, accomplished harpists when space exists for only one. Likewise, she noted the role of admissions is to ensure that each department has interested students among those incoming.

Richard Floyd, director of admission at Ursinus College (one of the Colleges That Change Lives), returned for the second year as a panelist. Richard noted the outsize role U.S. News & World Report plays in their annual rankings in influencing students and parents. He shared that colleges, while being dismayed at the criteria used, often actively promote themselves to colleagues in an effort to raise their profile. Erin, from Drexel, added that colleges crow about better standings (Drexel named one of five colleges to watch) and downplay when the rankings or attention invariably declines.

Suzi Nam, director of admission at Swarthmore College also participated. She noted the importance of a student’s application demonstrating a match to the university’s mission. A school like Swarthmore, where they seek students that value the pursuit of knowledge above all else (even grades), admission reps should be able to tell in the application why a candidate suits that mission.

All three endorsed the role of educational consultants in general, with one noting that good advising is as necessary to the college search and application process as a realtor is to the home search/sale. The group also noted the admiration they have for IECA members as being particularly professional, ethical, and knowledgeable. Each indicated their willingness to take calls and in queries from IECA members, when the goal is gathering general information and not advocating on behalf of an applicant.

It was a great session and was duplicated for school and therapeutic specialists separately. More details will follow in a future blog.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

We have learned that The Princeton Review will announce, sometime today, new seminars available in person or online covering issues like writing a great college essay, building a college list, how the college application works, and other process-oriented topics. Such a development underscores two truths: there is increased anxiety and confusion over admissions; and most students don’t have many resources—especially in public schools where counselors are overburdened with unfair case loads, increasingly complex problems, and little support for professional development. This deprives students and families of the information they need to both navigate the process and fully explore their choices.

To be clear: we welcome any innovations that bring good, accurate, vital information to students. All should welcome that TPR has found a way to deliver information at a relatively low cost, using new technologies. Students need—and deserve—complete knowledge.

Of course much of this process information—standardized test dates, how to visit college campuses, what makes for a good essay—has been available for many years: scores of books are available at Borders Books on these subjects, Web sites number in the thousands, most college admission offices share that same information, and for many students their school counseling office can provide these details. If TPR has found a way to reach a new population, great! I hope they find a way to make such information available in Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, and much more, as many first generation college families need assistance as well.

The important caveat here is that the college search and application process involves TWO components: the process details as described above, and the knowledge/match piece that is so critical. It is here where we talk about understanding students’ personalities, learning styles, social, educational, and community needs, and knowing enough about hundreds of colleges to assist in identifying appropriate matches. While the basic process information may be able to be disseminated in a group, the knowledge/match requires one-on-one consultation, sufficient time to really understand a student, exploration of essay topics, and evaluative tours of campus after campus. This piece can only be done through exceptional counseling. It is in this area that educational consultants shine.

With limited caseloads, extensive training, educational and professional development, continual travel to visit campuses, and the highest ethical standards, IECA member educational consultants provide families and students with amazing potential to not only understand the process, but also take ownership of it. To not only know what makes for a good essay in general terms, but to spend time with an expert to explore their lives, their interests, their values to discover an essay topic that gives real insight to who they are. And take the time, directed by a consultant, to explore the wide range of educational opportunities to find those that offer the best match. The goal of IECA consultants: a student who thrives, grows socially and academically, and achieves success at college.

As one of the nation’s leading educational associations, we welcome the use of new technologies and new efforts to reach students and families with critical information. IECA and its members will keep our commitment to the highest standards of service both to those who can afford independent consulting services and the thousands served through pro bono efforts, and the IECA Foundation’s initiatives.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

The first full day of the IECA Summer Training Institute has been a whirlwind of activity—and it’s only 11:00 a.m.! This morning Lisa Bleich led a session on becoming an entrepreneur. Since most attendees have backgrounds as guidance counselors, university admission directors, LD advocates, or family therapists and such, the idea of using those skills to open and manage a successful small business was a scary topic. Lisa, however, made the topic understandable and manageable. She talked about “the 7 Ps,” an extension of the traditional “4 Ps” she presented as an assistant professor of marketing.

The “7 Ps”: Product (your consulting services), Price (what you will charge and how), Place (where you will deliver your services), Promotion (how you will get the word out about your services), Positioning (How you want others to see your services), Presence (online), and Personalization (how you will meet the unique needs of clients).

Yesterday afternoon attendees explored their own insights as to what the profession of educational consulting is all about. In the work they did an amazing job of noting the importance of communication, understanding the whole child, gaining the institutional knowledge necessary, building a network of experts, gaining business know-how, and the need for an ethical core underlying all else.

This morning in a “get acquainted” exercise with my mentor group (smaller sub-groups of attendees), participants grabbed a random item from a box. They had to explain how that item could be related to educational consulting. This was just a fast, fun exercise but their responses were so creative and clever, I wanted to share some:

Paperclip: consultants must be organized in order to help students achieve their goals.

Seashell: we must remember that each child is as unique as each seashell.

Rubber band: we must work to achieve a balance between bringing things together and being flexible in our approach.

Hot sauce: one of our challenges is helping students to try something new, the way hot sauce changes the flavor.

Clothespin: for consultants there is a laundry list of things we must do to accomplish our goals.

Flashlight: we help to illuminate the path of a good educational match.

Stone: with so much going on, we need to help students remain grounded and mindful.

A multicolored twist of plastic: we bring the different strands together into a unique whole.

Ball: like a ball we never really know where a student will bounce—where the process will take us.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA

The very popular and well-respected IECA Summer Training Institute kicks off its 2010 program on the campus of Swarthmore College on Tuesday, July 27. The attendees themselves may demonstrate how the profession of educational consulting has changed over the last several years. They are a racially and culturally diverse group of nearly 90 participants, representing 25 states plus Puerto Rico, and five foreign countries. Within the U.S. they hail from Florida to Alaska, and California to Maine.

As they look ahead to careers in educational consulting, 91% see themselves in college advising, 24% in secondary school consulting, 19% working with teens with emotional and behavioral issues, and over 30% expect to be working in the area of learning disabilities. Simple math indicates that most attendees expect their consulting work to cover more than one specialty.

While decades ago most entering the field of consulting were either admission directors or school-based counselors, today those categories account for only about half of new consultants. Among STI attendees are lawyers, small businessmen, school headmasters, college professors, and high school teachers, as well as mental health and allied professionals, among many others. Another change: while in the past virtually everyone entering the field was on their third, fourth, or terminal career, in recent years STI attendees have ranged in age from twenty-somethings examining a first career, to those further along the continuum. Such diversity in attendees and their backgrounds has opened the field of consulting and provided our gatherings with all the benefits that come from a diverse population. It has also meant a growth in the diversity of students we serve as a profession, another wonderful bonus as we seek to become more reflective of the U.S. population as a whole.

We have made changes to the educational content of the institute’s offerings, as well. We now commit about four hours to fully cover the entrepreneurial needs of attendees, to fully understand the demands on establishing, promoting, and running a small business. A new full group session on understanding new media and social networking has also been added as well an elective on graduate school advising.

Joining the faculty are a number of guest presenters and panelists: Suzi Nam, director of admissions at Swarthmore College; Erin Finn, assistant VP for admissions at Drexel University; Richard Floyd, director of admission at Ursinus College; Joyce Latimer, director of admission at Auldern Academy; Barry Sysler, IECA member and financial aid expert; and Carolyn Mulligan, IECA member and expert on LD issues.

We’ll blog through the week so you will be able to follow the Summer Training Institute and the Independent Educational Consultants Association.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

(Part 2 of 2)

Yesterday we published the results of  the specific suggestions we received for making the conference more valuable to IECA members, schools, and programs that work in the area of emotional and behavioral needs. With the results we noted the numerous changes we are making to the conference schedule to ensure more interaction between consultants and programs and between programs and traditional schools. As part of the same survey we concluded with an open-ended request for comments, thoughts, or questions about the conference schedule. We read hundreds of such remarks. Eleven suggestions/comments seemed to come up often enough that we wanted to respond. In doing so we note that we have provided honest, direct answers which do not necessarily satisfy everyone’s concerns.

1.  Can you require IECA Members to attend the Swap? We do encourage them strongly and perhaps we need to do more. But remember, not all consultants do special needs, so some do not attend the Swap, just as some consultants who do ONLY special needs do not attend the School & College Fair.

2. Can you schedule more interactive and point/counterpoint sessions like we had in Charlotte? We agree, please suggest topics!

3.  Can’t we have more conferences in the West? We do need to pay more attention to conference cities. We have Dallas, TX scheduled for 2011 and San Diego, CA scheduled for 2013.

4. Consider holding one conference a year just for schools and colleges, and the other just for special needs. We’ll have the Strategic Planning task Force look into this idea. One fear is that one of those may get many more participants leaving programs or schools very frustrated. It also hurts the effort requested above for more interaction between therapeutic programs and traditional schools. Finally it also raises concerns that we create a fissure between specialties among consultants.

5. Can you offer CEUs for MSWs and psychologists? We’ll look into doing that. If we can, we will.

6.  Why do special needs programs pay for a full week, but only get to attend for a few days? Why don’t we get to attend as much as schools or colleges? This is a misperception that I would like to correct once and for all. Traditional schools, colleges, therapeutic schools and programs all pay the same fee, and all have the same amount of time at the conference. Schools and colleges attend from Wednesday mid-day to Thursday afternoon. Therapeutic programs have attended from Friday morning to Saturday mid-day. When therapeutic programs requested more interaction with traditional school representatives a few years ago, we began allowing school reps to visit the Therapeutic Information Swap one hour prior to its opening. (And based on the change we announced on  this blog yesterday, you will now be attending 2+ days.)  Only consultants attend for the entire 3-1/2 days of the conference. IECA member consultants pay less, as their dues cover a portion of the conference. Everyone is treated as fairly as possible. The conference fee is comparable to other conferences, and unlike some others we do not charge extra for tables at the Swap or Fair.

7.  Have you considered holding one national and several regional conferences each year? The Strategic Planning Task Force, a regional group task force, and the Board of Directors are looking into these issues right now.

8.  Why is the Therapeutic program always at the end? Why not alternate so that every other conference the Therapeutic days are at the beginning? What looks like an obvious possibility is simply not feasible. More than 100 educational consultants participate in college campus visits prior to the start of the conference. Typically this involves 7 – 8 colleges over three days. Others visit 3 – 5 boarding schools. Members consider these visits a central part of their conference experience. When therapeutic schools and programs exist near the conference city, they are typically spread out, allowing one or two such visits. In any case these visits must occur on a weekday. If the college part of the program was set later in the week, Friday and Saturday, it could then take consultants out of the conference hotel on the days that therapeutic programs are available. Remember that 80% of those doing therapeutic placements also do schools or colleges, so the chances of consultants opting for tours over the Swap are unacceptable. A secondary reason is that we commit to certain hotel room pick up (booked rooms per night) years in advance, and we are required to pay for unused rooms. When attendees are unsure of the schedule (due to constant shifts) they tend to book the whole week, only to cancel rooms at the last minute. Such last minute cancellations, which marked our earlier events prior to the format change in 2007, run into hundreds of rooms with penalty fees over $100,000. So while we can’t ‘flip’ the days, we try to do everything we can to meet all attendees needs.

9.  Can you increase the participation of educational consultants? The numbers seemed low in Toronto. It didn’t just seem that way as the number of attending consultants was low. Some attendees LOVED it and said it made for quality discussions. Others felt frustrated. Don’t worry though: no more Canada meetings for a long time. As someone else pointed out in their survey: remember that some of what we all are seeing is the impact of the terrible economy, not necessarily ongoing concerns.

10.  Can we have more clinical sessions? This ties in with a concern we heard from consultants: Programs used to send a therapist or programming person. Today, most send marketing and admission reps. Consultants would prefer hearing from those who work directly with students. The more such attendees we have, the more clinically-based presentations we can offer. (And the happier consultants will be!)

11. Finally: Can’t you do something to allow for more networking during the conference? Conference Central has proved to be a great addition. In Ohio, thanks to your suggestions, we will be expanding the time for breaks to promote more networking. We think you’ll notice the difference.

Colleagues, I hope the information shared over the last two days demonstrates our commitment to keeping a dialogue going toward making all of your interactions with IECA and our members positive, valuable, and cost effective. As you can see, wherever possible we effected change immediately with most suggestions being implemented this fall in November. We’ll be in touch soon after to see whether you noticed the differences.

The 2010 IECA Fall Conference is in Cincinnati, November 4 – 6. Registration will open the first week of August and all information will be available on our Web site. We hope to see you there!

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

(Part 1 of 2)

Last month we invited special needs consultants, as well as representatives of wilderness and emotional growth schools (more than 1,000 professionals), to provide us with feedback on a number of ideas about ways to make the IECA conferences more meaningful and valuable to those working with troubled teens. Hundreds responded and we are grateful for the honest feedback. We promised to reply, and here are the survey results along with an explanation of what we will do, might do in the future, and won’t do!

Tomorrow we will post the 11 most common questions or suggestions that we received in the open feedback section of the questionnaire.

[1] One suggestion was to extend the Traditional Boarding School and College Fair by an hour on Thursday morning, and allow special needs program representatives to join consultants for the final hour to allow for school-to-program networking. Of those expressing an opinion on this issue, 85% of respondents were in favor.

Our Response: We have extended the Fair by 45 minutes (the most we could find) in Ohio this fall, and all special needs program representatives will be invited in for the final hour.

[2] The next proposal was to change to an expo format: programs would each get a 10×10 booth to staff for three full days with consultants choosing when they wish to go to the expo hall instead of educational programming. Of those responding, 28% were in favor.

Our Response: We have tabled this proposal and will not move toward a large exposition hall.

[3] We asked you to consider a change that would ensure a period of overlap when all conference attendees—schools, colleges, special needs programs, and consultants—would all be in attendance at the same time. Of those giving us an opinion on this topic 93% were in favor.

Our Response: Much of the Ohio program was already created, but we were able to rework it. After the final hour of Thursday morning’s School & College Fair there will be breakouts and a lunch with a wonderful speaker, for all attendees. There will also be opportunities while everyone is in attendance for networking in Conference Central.

[4] We asked how you felt about the desire of IECA members to have some educational sessions just for consultants, allowing them opportunities for free discussion on topics of particular interest to them. Of those responding 86% (and more than 95% of IECA members) were in favor.

Our Response: We will implement this change. This will mean more breakout times for special needs representatives, but that one or two at each time period will be designated for educational consultants only.

[5] We asked about bringing back the Saturday morning “Program Showcases” (short presentations by programs) from time to time. Of those with an opinion, 72% were in favor.

Our Response: We will hold two showcases on Saturday morning in Ohio, allowing up to 30 programs to offer brief presentations. There will be no cost to programs to be included, although there will be limited number of spots available.

[6] We asked about the proposal we’ve heard from some to eliminate the Information Swap completely and let networking occur more naturally. Just 23% were in favor of this option.

Our response: We won’t go there!

[7] We asked about the Master Class that has been featured with a nationally known expert offering an intense three-hour session. The responses:

24% wanted to keep them as they are
21% wanted to keep them, but shorten them a bit
23% wanted to eliminate them
12% wanted us to switch to something more interactive
20% wanted to eliminate all Saturday programming

Our Response: Clearly opinion is all over the place, although most IECA members wanted to keep the Master Class concept either in its present form or shorter. In Ohio we have arranged for one of the nation’s top experts on bipolar disorders. The session will be two hours (rather than three), in part to ensure time for the Program Showcases.

[8] We asked about shifting to one conference a year rather than two. Of those with an opinion, 56% were in favor.

Our Response: This question impacts more than just the therapeutic community, and so we need the opinion not just of the Special Needs schools and consultants but the college, traditional boarding schools, vendors, gap year, consultants, etc. All results will go to the Board, as this represents a policy decision. The Board will see your opinion.

Bottom line, we are working actively to incorporate as many ideas as we can, within the structure of existing contracts. We appreciate all those who responded and offered their opinion. Tomorrow we’ll respond to the questions that came up most: frequency, location, daily schedule of conferences, and much more.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

While enrollment in traditional four-year colleges has edged up slowly in recent years, the numbers attending for-profit, post-secondary trade and technical schools has soared. In the last 10 years, enrollment in such ‘career colleges’ has increased by more than 200% with nearly 2 million students currently attending. Culinary, computer, forensics, and other programs have become especially popular as the economy soured and twenty-somethings looked to gain marketable skills.

With such growth comes greater scrutiny and the federal government is looking into allegations that some of the growth has been fueled by false or deceptive promotion, and recruitment strategies that skirt the law and burden students with high debt.

The proposed legislation, drafted by the Department of Education would require trade and technical schools and other for-profit colleges to fully disclose graduation and job placement rates. Anyone watching daytime television knows full well that many of these schools advertise heavily (the perfect time to reach the unemployed), promoting their schools as the path to a great career. Another part of the legislation being debated examines whether recruiters to for-profit schools target those unable to afford classes and burden students with unrealistic debt.

Recruitment to career colleges is examined in another section of the proposal. In many schools, salaries of recruiters are tied closely to incentives for success in enrolling students. While federal law prohibits direct fees based on per capita recruitment, many such vocational and for-profit schools skirt the law by providing bonuses for success without tying the fees paid to specific numbers of students registering. The proposal would tighten these rules, eliminating such incentives.

About a year ago I met with Harris Miller, president of the Career College Association, a group representing some 1,500 for-profit schools. It was clear in this meeting that post-secondary trade and technical schools provide a valuable alternative to traditional college settings. In many cases such schools have the latest equipment and turn out graduates fully prepared to enter the workforce in a chosen field. The growing numbers suggest the need for educational consultants to be aware of career colleges and know the strengths and weaknesses of those in their community. However, for-profit schools must ensure that their recruitment policies are ethical, honest, and fair to prospective students, in order to eliminate any concerns that they are purely in the business of generating income by making wildly impossible promises and rewarding recruiters to bring in students at all costs.

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by Jane Klemmer, IECA Associate Member (New York)

I’m still riding an incredible high, no pun intended. Two days ago I returned from a week in southern California, where I cycled and toured colleges with 16 other college counselors and consultants. To say that this was one of my most memorable college tours sounds almost trite, especially coming from an educational consultant who has been in practice barely three years. Nevertheless, I am certain that the special memories from this unusual college tour will stay with me for many years to come.

Bill Dingledine (SC) and Jane Klemmer (NY)

In one week, five actual days of cycling, we covered roughly 180 miles and visited 13 colleges, pedaling from school to school and carrying our own gear. Starting at the University of Redlands and working our way west to Los Angeles, we spent most of our nights in dorms and came to know well the challenges of non-fitted sheets on plastic covered mattresses. This is about as “roughing it” as it gets in the world of college counseling, but we chalked it up to just another part of the experience. The weather was also far colder than I had anticipated (something I should probably keep to myself, given what colleagues experienced last week on the east coast). I ended up buying a LaVerne sweatshirt, which I will wear proudly, and a windbreaker at one of the cycle shops along the way so that I could brave the brisk and cloudy mornings that we were told was very unusual. This was “June Gloom” arriving in California a month late, a refrain repeated at every stop along our way.

Unforeseen cool weather and a few unexpected mishaps only added to the special nature of our adventure. There are, of course, the obvious reasons why this trip was such a positive and unforgettable experience for all of us involved: the special camaraderie among us, informative college visits with some over-the-top hospitality, and excellent cycling. However, two of the benefits of a trip such as this are probably even more meaningful and perhaps less obvious.

My IECA colleague, Bill Dingledine (who has continued on to cycle and tour colleges for another week), and I were the only independent consultants in this group, yet never once did I feel I needed to explain what I did, nor feel like we were somehow different from the rest of the group. I truly believe that experiences like these help break down what are sometimes barriers between independent consultants and school counselors. I feel confident that many of my cycling colleagues now have a better understanding of what we do and see the real value that we add to the college search and application process. We are another contributing member of the team.

But let me share with you what I truly believe to be the best benefit of all: attaining a goal that I set for myself, having worked and trained diligently to achieve it!  We as independent consultants challenge students to establish goals and strive to reach them. Why should we, regardless of our age and experience, be any different? Having goals and dreams is what keeps us fresh, too. The best way to instill motivation in students is to lead by example. Showing them the benefits of putting in the effort and going the extra mile, figuratively and sometimes, literally, can be as important in the long run as the suggestions we offer for an essay.

We spent our last night on the gorgeous campus of Pepperdine University in Malibu, which sits high on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The next morning we cycled back down the Pacific Coast Highway, with the ocean a constant to our right. A few of our colleagues decided to test the frigid waters at Venice Beach before we did a quick cycle through Loyola Marymount University, and shared our last lunch together at the In and Out Burger, a ubiquitous California chain that became a true ‘destination” for us after some in our group talked it up for a week. No one was disappointed, and we agreed that it was a fitting farewell luncheon before we returned rental bikes and said our good-byes.

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