by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director

In some ways the Summer Training Institute lasts far longer than the 4 days attendees spend in Swarthmore, PA.  First, in a practical sense, it could takes months just to read everything in their workshop binders.  Hundreds of articles, reproduced blogs, resource lists, sample contracts, intake forms, campus visit checklists and more make the binder a valuable resource for years. IECA education director Sue DePra put together an amazing textbook.

In addition, the attendees are able to start their journeys into the profession knowing they can rely on IECA for support.  Each can immediately link through this blog and the IECA facebook page.  As they seek Associate or Professional Membership they will discover the value IECA offers:  assigning mentors, joining campus tours, gaining discounts on everything from insurance to FedEx.  As a member they will discover the amazing opportunities, products and discounts offered by our partners including College Essay Organizer, Wintergreen Orchard House, Princeton Review, Kaplan, and more than 30 others.  Attending our national conferences in the fall and spring, reading Insights, and participating in LinkedIn discussions all will allow those who took part in this past week’s training to continue to learn and grow.

Yet above all there are the wonderful connections the participants made with each other.  Stretching from San Diego to Maine, and Vancouver to Miami, the STI Class of 2010 seems poised to keep these new relationships alive: visiting schools together, sharing expertise, providing business and counseling support and guidance.  Since 2003, we have seen the incredible value the summer training graduates find in remaining in touch, supporting each other, and raising up their classmates.  We at IECA look forward to their continued involvement.

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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

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, IECA

I admit to being a person who is rarely satisfied with the way things are. I believe in the need to change and that includes both personal change and actions to ensure that the Independent Educational Consultants Association continues to move forward, developing new approaches, new programs and new initiatives so that we are always meeting member needs. Allow me to illustrate using just one example. Following an IECA Summer Training Institute in Claremont, California, I sat down with Sue DePra and Steve Antonoff to review the participant evaluations. They were off the charts with virtually every attendee giving the Summer Institute nearly perfect scores, and comments from most attendees that it was among the best training sessions they had ever attended. The three of us then spent the next two hours re-writing the curriculum, developing new interactive elements, implementing ‘labs’ and strengthening the program further. The result was taking a great training program and making it remarkable.

Now as I reflect back on 2009, I feel great about the excellent work of staff, Board and committee leadership, and volunteer members who combined to make it a great year. We advanced dramatically in our efforts to use social networking to promote IECA and the profession, and to improve communications. We initiated new program in learning disabilities and adopted our new Standards of Excellence. We implemented significant changes during our conference: from Speed Meetings to Conference Central and from point/counterpoint sessions to master classes. Participation among colleges has never been higher, and despite the economic downturn our membership is up, conference participation is up, and our training workshops were larger than ever.

But as I look ahead, I know what I want to achieve in the coming year for IECA and for my own work as Executive Director: to take IECA from a great organization to a remarkable one. Looking at the success of America’s most lauded associations, I hope we use their example to become an exceptional force for our members. To become ‘remarkable,’ I think Board, staff and volunteers need to meet these expectations:

• Member Service—we exist as an association for one reason: to meet the needs of our membership. That commitment to member service should always be the top priority.

• Align all services, conferences, and activities with IECA’s mission. That mission, unchanged in 30 years, is to help professional consultants to serve the interests of students and families in their educational decision-making.

• Seek feedback and input from members and our related constituencies. In the next several weeks, members will be asked to complete a strategic planning survey and a survey from the Education & Training Committee. These will set our priorities over the next several years. We have now begun to involve schools, colleges, and programs in conference planning and regularly seek their advice on programming.

• Be willing to fail. As we look to be innovative, creative, and dynamic, we must be willing to accept that success require risk-taking and that means we will fail from time to time. Such failure is inevitable and will lead to new successes.

• A nimble, flexible, national office that is able to meet changes in the marketplace and ensure that such changes are quickly and capably brought to our members to help them succeed in their own work.

• Building alliances with not-for-profit and for-profit companies, institutions, and organizations that will help us further our mission and better serve clients and students.

I look forward to hearing ideas from our members, colleagues, and families on how we can best serve each to make 2010 and IECA remarkable in the year ahead. Join us in this effort: volunteer, get involved in committees, affinity groups, or other efforts, and above all, offer your ideas on what IECA should be doing.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA

On the final day of IECA’s 2009 Summer Training Institute, the participants worked on their personal business plans.  It’s an exercise that demonstrates the dual hats consultants wear: advisors to students and families on one hand and small businesspersons on the other.  As the exercise began, I reminded the participants of the importance of being honest with their thoughts and feelings—only such honesty can make a business plan work.

The exercise starts where all good business plans originate: by considering one’s reasons for wanting to pursue an educational consulting career. I gave a few examples: the need to realize some income after retiring as a school counselor or wanting to continue the excitement one felt when they went through a college, school, or therapeutic placement with their own children.

After some quiet introspection, the answers flowed from the novice consultants in the room: “to see children reach their potential,” “to see students achieve their dreams,” “to be there for first generation and impoverished students,” and “help a family in crisis discover a path toward healing.”

It was a terrific moment.  In the midst of a session that was (in theory, at least) about the business side of educational consulting, the heart of consulting came through and shone.

No one argued in favor of preying on parent anxieties as a marketing tool; no one held to the belief that the profession engaged in packaging students or re-writing students essays; no one promoted the claims of admission secrets or whispered connections; no one spoke of perks or growing rich.  Many, however spoke of service, of establishing non-profits to better help the under-served, of the importance of ethics and passion.

When I shook hands and thanked participants following the final dinner, I never felt better about the direction of the profession.  The 90 members of the class of 2009 will, both collectively and individually, enhance and promote educational options for adolescents with compassion, competence, and commitment.

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by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA

A long and busy day in Swarthmore (is there any other kind during the IECA Summer Institute?) as day three comes to a close.  Particularly tiring for me with three presentations and joining all the faculty in moderating a marketing lab with our mentoring groups.

I led a lively elective on—no surprise here—using social networking and blogging to improve communication with and between clients and colleagues.  Following this I joined Jane Shropshire to lead a session for consultants working on therapeutic placements that focused on the key differences they may experience in working in the profession, as compared to college and school consultants.

Then off to a general session on Professional, Legal and Liability Issues.  It was late in the day but the attendees remained interested and engaged throughout, an indication (the staff feels) of the overall level of seriousness of purpose and personal commitment they have demonstrated to learning.

Of course the rest of the faculty were busy as well.  Jane also hosted a sizable breakout where some 40 attendees explored boarding school consulting, a very significant growth in interest of such work.  Matt Baker ran a general session on marketing, followed by the marketing lab.  Bar Clarke led a session on how to visit and evaluate special needs programs while Charlotte Klaar ran a well-attended and reviewed breakout on “The College Essay” which concentrated on the limits consultants should provide students.

Guest presenter Troy Onink of Stratagee joined Lloyd Paradiso to offer a session to a packed house on the Essentials of Financial Aid.  Finally, as the clock ticked toward 5:45, a faculty Q&A produced a good, insightful give and take.

Imagine all that just today!  And several of those general sessions were two hours each.  Tonight offered the opportunity of a night off, and a crowd was seen heading for the train into Philadelphia.   We hope the attendees have fun, but not too much.  Somehow tomorrow’s schedule is just as busy!

We have missed Steve Antonoff who missed his first Summer Institute due to some medical complications from surgery earlier this summer. We’re happy to announce that he’s doing well.  Finally, it takes a real expert, a professional who understand adult learning, curriculum design, and an unyielding commitment to excellence to put together every academic and logistical aspect of the Institute.  That was Sue DePra, IECA’s Director of Education.  In one word: amazing.

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