NACAC 2009 Review: The Great, The Good, and The Ugly

The PrepMe team had a terrific time at NACAC in Baltimore.  Here's a quick summary of last week (in reverse order, we like to end with positives!):

The Ugly

- The "Joe Wilson Moment" on my panel where a lady yelled out "but they don't educate everyone" in response to me reminding the panel that the U.S. K-12 education system lags many other developed nations significantly.  Really?   For the record, the U.S. is ranked 18th out of 36 in the OECD's analysis of education in the developed world.  We most certainly aren't educating everyone.

- The test prep companies that get lost in the minutiae.  Good test preparation is about educating, not about tricks.  Please stop wasting students' and parents' time and money on things that have a minimal, if any, impact on their scores.

The Good

- Crab chips are quite tasty!  Thank you to our Twitter friends for your recommendations!

- Conference turnout was strong despite the challenging economy and impact on school budgets.  While attendance was down from Seattle 2008,  we had many more conversations than we did last year.  Thank you to the organizers.

The Great

- The panel on "SAT Test Prep - Sharing What Works".  It was terrific to hear form 3 guidance counselors from very different schools (rural - public, urban - public, suburban - parochial) talk about their experiences and how they've effectively integrated test prep into the school day to help their students succeed.  The key takeaways were that successful test prep needs to be (a) integrated into the school day, (b) focus on curriculum so that it integrates with school and can rely on teachers for support, and (c) be personalized so students get the help they need.

- The number of people who came to speak to us after the panel who agreed completely that curriculum-based test preparation is the only way to go.  Tricks just don't cut it.

- Meeting many of our competitors including some who are absolutely wonderful people and sincerely dedicated to helping students succeed.  Thank you for stopping by our booth!

- The friends we made in our industry and the partnerships we'll be starting over the next few months to help bring high-quality, personalized online ACT and SAT prep to thousands more students across the country.

- All the guidance counselors who came armed with terrific questions about how our curriculum is designed, how our reporting engines work, and how our tutors are compensated.  Your students are fortunate to have you as their counselor.

Thank you Baltimore for a wonderful time, wonderful food, and mostly wonderful weather!  We'll see everyone at NACAC 2010 in St. Louis!