Peggy Cain (second from left), school counselor, Andover (Mass.) High School, and College Board trustee

The College Board is sponsoring training for counselors in the New England Region to help them be more effective advocates for their students, their schools and their profession while working with local, state and federal leaders.

The College Board has partnered with the Massachusetts School Counselor Association and the New England Association for College Admission Counseling to organize a workshop on Nov. 18 in Worcester, Mass., and a legislative action day Feb. 4 at the Massachusetts State House. The Rhode Island School Counselor Association is organizing a similar session scheduled for Nov. 19.

These events follow a workshop held in May that featured training from Lori Fresina of M+R Strategic Services to help counselors consider ways to be involved in legislation that affects students and schools.

“Counselors need a place at the table as these discussions go on,” said Peggy Cain, a counselor at Andover High School and a College Board Trustee. “M+R provided a great framework to help counselors tell their stories in a way that highlights our role and helps us be a voice for
all students."

The workshops this fall will build on that training and reach others in the region, said Pat Nailor, past president of the Rhode Island School Counselor Association and chair of the professional development committee. Brad MacGowan, a counselor at Newton North High School, and Jon Westover, senior associate director of freshman admissions at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who lead government relations for MASCA and NEACAC, respectively, helped set the agenda for the November meeting and have invited members of their organizations. The workshop will be led by Carey Dimmitt of UMass Amherst and the Center for School Counseling Outcome Research, and Lori Fresina of M+R Strategic Services.

Many of these counselors hope to speak in February with influential legislators and policymakers about counselors’ role in education. These events may provide a model for expanding advocacy training in other regions, said Arthur Doyle, vice president of the College Board’s New
England Region.

Bob Bardwell, president of NEACAC, said he hopes the workshops will help counselors be more proactive and effective in their efforts to influence education policy.
“This can help counselors be more prominent on the radar so that we can be consulted on issues, rather than being told what has happened,” he said.

VP Arthur Doyle

VP Mike Bartini

We are pleased to share with you some important College Board summer occurrences here
in New England.

First, CollegeKeys Compact™ advocacy and training was among the hallmark associational activities of the summer. Now with 44 of New England’s College Board member institutions endorsing the CollegeKeys Compact — 43 of which became charter members by having their endorsements received prior to July 1 — activities are in progress to invite an acceleration of CollegeKeys Compact endorsements by the region’s member institutions.    

The training event was held here in the Regional Office and led by Trustee Donald M. Honeman, associate vice chancellor of enrollment management at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Ann Coles, senior advisor for college access programs at TERI who was a member of the College Board’s Task Force on College Access for Students from Low-Income Backgrounds that produced the CollegeKeys Compact, Jackie Woods, CollegeKeys Compact project manager, and advocacy trainer Lori Fresina, senior vice president of M+R Strategic Services.

Ten of your colleagues from member institutions responded to the “call to action” embodied in the CollegeKeys Compact. They reviewed the value added to College Board members for joining the CollegeKeys Compact as well as the purpose, structure and expectations of signatories to the Compact. They also pursued the opportunities related to the schools, colleges and organizations joining the CollegeKeys Compact, identified strategies for encouraging organizational leaders to join the CollegeKeys Compact and identified additional resources to assist you in your work in bringing your institution into the CollegeKeys Compact. You may expect to hear more from them and the regional office about doing so shortly after the outset of the new academic year. In the meantime, we encourage you to go to CollegeKeys Compact Web site to learn more about, and to join this important “call to action.”

In addition, we are pleased to share with you some important changes in the New England Regional Office.  Arthur Doyle, who has served as regional vice president is moving to a new position in the College Board as vice president of College Success Implementation, a role that will encompass several areas of focus within higher education, including the SAT and the Advanced Placement programs. He will continue to work from the New England Regional Office, but assume an increasingly national orientation.

New England has the good fortune to have Mike Bartini, currently the vice president for the Middle States Regional Office and a former staff member of the New England Regional Office, succeeding Arthur as the regional vice president of NERO. Mike is uniquely positioned to assume this important role and looks forward to both renewing former relationships and establishing new ones throughout the region’s education community.

We look forward to working closely together for you, your colleagues and your institutions in this transition and in our new positions.

With every best wish for a successful new academic and associational year,

Mike Bartini                                                        Arthur Doyle
Vice President                                                    Vice President
New England Regional Office                                College Success Implementation

As of the July 1 deadline, the CollegeKeys Compact™ had 475 institutions on the final roll of charter members for this important initiative. This number includes 137 colleges, 311 schools, 18 non-profits and nine agencies. Forty-three of the charter institutions are from the New England Region. The number continues to grow and, currently, there are 492 institutions that have signed the Compact.

Click here to see entire list.

Requires Adobe® Reader® 

                             

Click here to see events and workshops in the New England region.