On May 8th and 9th, Larry was the moderator or panelist for three breakout workshops at the semi-annual National Conference of the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) conference in Chicago:
“The Cloudy Future of Standardized Testing” focused on the serious questions around the validity of standardized testing to predict success equally among disparate student populations. While some colleges perceive there to be a need for standardized tests, test optional schools are recognzing the established fact that student success is equal among those who submit test scores and those who don’t. Panelists including Robert Schaeffer (Public Education Director of FairTest), Jon Boeckenstedt (Vice President of Enrollment of DePaul University), Andy Borst (Director of Undergraduate Admissions of University of Illinois – Urbana/Champaign), and Matt Niksch (Chief College Counselor of Noble Network of Charter Schools) shared their perspectives in this timely and important discussion.
In the College Committee Session “College Use of Customer Relationship Manager Tools in Enrollment and Admissions”, Larry and fellow moderator, Marilyn O’Toole, examined the use of technology and data collection in college admissions. Panelists Eric Range (Element 451), Ben Kavanaugh (Bucknell University), Lauren Sefton (Rhodes College), Mike Borovsky (Purdue University), and Darryl Jones (Gettysburg College) discussed how this data is collected and used by college admissions offices as well as how this impacts all stakeholders in the overall admissions process.
The workshop “Is This a Good College? The Power of Rhetoric in College Counseling” explored the power of semantics as well as verbal and non-verbal communication in college admissions. Consultants Jennie Kent and Nicole Oringer joined Larry in this presentation in which they incorporated “both sides of the desk” – the admissions side and the college counseling side
Larry is very grateful to all the workshop panelists as well as the consultants who attended these sessions. He appreciates all of the positive feedback he has received.