It should come as no surprise that dwindling budgets for public schools in California, and across the United States, would impact the roles and responsibilities of administrators. In New Orleans tomorrow, Mark Sklarow, the Executive Director of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA), will address school counselors and directors of college admissions at the meeting of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC). Sklarow will challenge attendees to re-think the hundred-year old model of high school counselors providing college information and assitance to their students.
"There is a fundamental shift taking place away from the role and value of the public school counselor in the college admissions process. The shift is towards independent educational consultants (IECs)," Sklarow said in a phone interview from Louisiana. His presentation tomorrow will introduce research that supports this shift.
The National Research Council for College and University Admissions (NRCCUA) conducts annual surveys of students to identify the most influenctial sources of information in their college search. This year, high school counselors didn't make it to the top 12 on the list, although in prior years school counselors ranked as one of the top three most important sources for students. NRCCUA's research showed that students more frequently use social media. campus visits, college fairs, and websites to learn about colleges. Sklarow explains that the process is now more about the student discovering colleges on their own, and less about the high school counselors’ opinion.
NACAC's own survey research asked high school counselors to determine the percentage of time devoted to college counseling. For the very first time, NACAC reported that public school counselors spend only about 22% of their time devoted to college advising. Academic planning, personal counseling, and administrative duties more accurately define the job responsibilities of the public school counselor.
The third piece of research Sklarow will present was released just yesterday from Inside Higher Education. A survey of college admissions directors from 600 leading colleges in the country were asked to identify who, or what, they felt was the most valuable sources of information for a student looking for the right fit college. Public school counselors didn’t make the list. Independent educaitonal consultants came in #4.
"All this information together and add in social media and new things that are taking place, speaks to the fact that public school counselors matter less than they ever have before," said Sklarow. He said that while many professional middle-class families have traditionally been the consumers of independent counseling services, the consumer base has changed. Independent counselors are being hired by community organizations, such as Boys and Girls Clubs, to counsel students who come from low income families. IECs are also providing in-service training to small private schools without full-time counselors, and to community volunteers . IECs now serve a more diverse group of students whose needs are not being met in the pubic schools.
"IECs are transforming admissions at the college level as well," said Sklarow, " College admission officers routinely visit with IECs as part of their recruiting strategy. Colleges are discovering that IECs are enormously helpful in finding the students who will be a perfect match for them."
To find a qualified independent counselor, Sklarow encourages families to only work with professionals who are fully vetted by either IECA or NACAC.
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