Not so long ago, distance learning was mostly seen as a futuristic experiment in education. Then all instruction moved online. Where are we now, and where are we going? Amy and Mike invited ed-tech consultant Phil Hill to assess the state of distance learning in higher education. What are five things you will learn in this episode? How can the transition from all in-person to at least partially distance learning in education be described? Is online instruction synonymous with for-profit in highe...
Dec 17, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 273
While American culture celebrates individual differences and promotes diversity, many of our societal systems struggle with anyone who deviates too far from an accepted norm. This can certainly be the case in school. Amy and Mike invited counselor Emily Kircher-Morris to share academic success strategies for neurodivergent students. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What do neurodivergent students need to focus on for academic success? Why is self-advocacy such an important sk...
Dec 14, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 272
Nearly 20 years ago, colleges asked for standardized essay sections on admissions tests because applicants arrived on campus with deficient writing skills. Yet today, when very few schools want to see essay scores, do those test sections still have value? Amy and Mike invited educator Brian Eufinger to explore potential advantages and opportunities in the ACT Writing Test. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What is the framework of the ACT Writing Test? What is the current stat...
Dec 10, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 271
U.S students often imagine the opportunity to study abroad as a path to experiencing cultures radically different than their own. Is there a benefit, though, to considering a country with more similarities than distinctions? Amy and Mike invited Brandon Miller to extol the virtues of attending a college in Canada. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What are some notable colleges and universities in Canada? How does the college admissions process in Canada differ from the US sys...
Dec 07, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 270
Schooling and cheating share a long and sordid history. But what can educators do when the technology to undermine academic integrity advances faster than conventional efforts to protect it. Amy and Mike invited ed-tech executive Eric Gibbs to share updates on cheating and plagiarism software. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What threats to academic integrity have occurred as education has shifted from traditional face-to-face to online modalities? How has cheating technolog...
Dec 03, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 269
The opportunity to compete athletically on the college level--while winning scholarships for doing so--has always been connected to SAT and ACT scores. What’s changed post-pandemic and what hasn’t? Amy and Mike invited educator Jen Henson to correct myths about testing and college sports. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What is NCAA eligibility? What kind of scores are needed? Can we anticipate that NCAA eligibility test score requirements will continue to be waived? If a sc...
Nov 30, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 268
Most students and their families enter the college admissions process fully expecting to take out tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans. Does earning a degree really have to cost that much? Amy and Mike invited college cost advocate Mark Salisbury to elaborate on when borrowing for school is a bad idea. What are five things you will learn in this episode? Why are student loans particularly burdensome, especially for young adults? What choices can increase or decrease the...
Nov 26, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 267
The various versions of high school admissions tests may be even more confusing than those for college or graduate school. As part of our series on HS admissions tests, Amy and Mike invited educator Brenna O'Neill to explain the role and structure of the Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE). What are five things you will learn in this episode? Who takes the Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE)? What are the ISEE testing seasons, and when should students test? How and where is the ISEE admi...
Nov 23, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 266
Ready to learn the history, philosophy, and practice of an experienced independent educational consultant? MEET OUR GUEST Meet Kevin Newton , the founder of An Education Abroad , a company that helps Americans who are interested in earning a degree outside of the United States. Since 2016, he and his wife have helped place dozens of students at top universities around the world. Kevin fell in love with everything that international education has to offer while studying for his MA in Islamic and ...
Nov 19, 2021•16 min•Season 1Ep. 265
Ready to learn the history, philosophy, and practice of an experienced independent educational consultant? MEET OUR GUEST Meet Aly Beaumont , the founder of Admissions Village , a family focused, affordable, one-on-one college guidance consultancy. Aly is deeply committed to making the college admissions process less stressful, and her success with this objective can be measured by both the growing number of referrals she receives as well as the repeat business of family siblings. Aly is also a ...
Nov 18, 2021•16 min•Season 1Ep. 264
Ready to learn the history, philosophy, and practice of an experienced independent educational consultant? MEET OUR GUEST Meet Steven Mercer, Ed.D ., the founder of Mercer Educational Consulting , a private college counseling practice in Los Angeles, CA. He is an experienced educator with an extensive background in selective college admission, counseling, teaching, and academic and non-profit leadership. Prior to founding Mercer Educational Consulting he was an admission officer at the Universit...
Nov 17, 2021•18 min•Season 1Ep. 263
Ready to learn the history, philosophy, and practice of an experienced independent educational consultant? MEET OUR GUEST Immigrating from Korea in her youth, Julie Kim is a graduate of USC and Harvard (Ed.M). She founded Julie Kim Consulting after years of working in larger consulting firms, hoping to establish a new way of approaching college admissions. Julie offers a unique perspective as the first in her family to navigate the American college admissions process and works with students of s...
Nov 16, 2021•15 min•Season 1Ep. 262
Ready to learn the history, philosophy, and practice of an experienced independent educational consultant? MEET OUR GUEST Meet Phil Black , the creator of PrepWell Academy, an unconventional approach to preparing high school students (and their parents) for the rigors of the college admissions process. His unique program is delivered online and focuses on the early preparation of students (freshman and sophomore year) interested in attending highly-selective colleges (e.g. Ivy League, Stanford, ...
Nov 15, 2021•16 min•Season 1Ep. 261
While nearly all high schoolers arrive at the ACT able to read, their levels of mastery often seem spotty at best. How can test takers determine where their reading skills fall short? Amy and Mike invited educator Cody Eadie to review ACT Reading Reporting Categories. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What are the main ACT Reading Reporting Categories? What should students, parents, and educators know about ACT Reading? What are ACT Reading answer traps? Why is being a nonfict...
Nov 12, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 260
Tutoring at its best entails so much more than a mechanical transfer of information designed to improve a grade or score. An authentic student-teacher relationship depends on a commitment to establish rapport and personalize instruction. Amy and Mike invited educator Mary Thomas to share her insights on teaching teens. What are five things you will learn in this episode? Why is it important to see teens as more than just students? What teaching methods do teens best respond to? Why is flexibilit...
Nov 09, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 259
Traditional beauty pageants typify the kind of competition where contestants do everything possible to be judged positively by a group of complete strangers. Unfortunately, selective college admissions can feel like this as well, unless applicants learn a better way. Amy and Mike invited educator Neill Seltzer to discuss how to avoid the pageant approach to college admissions. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What's wrong with the beauty pageant approach to admissions? What a...
Nov 05, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 258
Some challenges in life loom larger than others, fraught with the potential to immeasurably transform our lives for the better if only we can rise to the occasion. Sometimes, that challenge is a really important exam. Amy and Mike invited author and professor Zachary Howlett to explain big tests as fateful rites of passage. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What is the Gaokao, and what makes this test so important? What is the significance of describing an event as chancy and ...
Nov 02, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 257
While we have no choice but to accept that life isn’t always fair, we can--and should--do much better to make sure education is always equitable. Amy and Mike invited educator and author Michael Marlowe to explore what it means to level the playing field for students. What are five things you will learn in this episode? How is education in the United States like a pendulum? What hasn't changed in education in the 21st century? Can you create fairer standards by eliminating objective data? Who is...
Oct 29, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 256
While many teens shudder at the prospect of adding math as an extracurricular activity, others relish the opportunity to engage in quantitative competitions. And they should, because the path of a mathlete is rewarding on many levels! Amy and Mike invited educator Vida John to expound upon the connections between competitive math and testing. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What is the competitive math landscape for students in the U.S. How does the AMC test compare with an ...
Oct 26, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 255
In a system where selective colleges benefit from as many applicants as possible even as acceptance becomes rarer than ever, smart applicants need to do more than take public statements at face value. Prepare to delve into the data! Amy and Mike invited educator Shane Bybee to explain how to use the Common Data Set. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What is the Common Data Set? How and by whom can the Common Data Set be accessed? What kind of information does the CDS hold? Why...
Oct 22, 2021•30 min•Season 1Ep. 254
Higher education resembles most other goods and services in that price often increases with scarcity. In other contexts, though, the industry seems to defy economic principles. Amy and Mike invited editor Hilary Burns to explain the unexpected allure of the most expensive colleges. What are five things you will learn in this episode? Are college prices continuing to increase? What relationship cost and selectivity? Are the most expensive schools seeing more or fewer applicants? Why is the total ...
Oct 19, 2021•24 min•Season 1Ep. 253
Most of us imagine that human intelligence is simply too complex and magical to measure in any reliable way. Why, then, do so many studies suggest otherwise? Amy and Mike invited data scientist Stanislaw Pstrokonski to explore the research regarding the validity of IQ tests. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What do IQ tests purport to evaluate? What other attributes also correlate with IQ? How much research has been done to support the findings of these tests? What measurable...
Oct 15, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 252
Like it or not, most major assessment and admissions tests will eventually migrate to a digital platform, some sooner than you’d think. This need not be a cause for despair. Amy and Mike invited educator Sonya Muthalia to describe the path to success in computer-based testing. What are five things you will learn in this episode? How do computerized tests differ from the paper-pencil version? What are the advantages and disadvantages of taking computer-based tests? How is the prep for computerize...
Oct 12, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 251
Ready to learn the history, philosophy, and practice of an experienced professional in the test prep industry? MEET OUR GUEST Meet Anna Solomon . Anna grew up in Florida and graduated with a B.A. in History from New College of Florida. She lived in Asheville (NC) and Richmond (VA), and now lives in Salisbury (MD). She worked for Huntington Learning Center, Tutor Doctor, and other private tutoring and test prep companies before beginning her own company, Flamingo Tutoring . Now she focuses on one...
Oct 08, 2021•16 min•Season 1Ep. 250
Ready to learn the history, philosophy, and practice of an experienced professional in the test prep industry? MEET OUR GUEST Meet Adam Snoza . Adam graduated from Creighton University and was a high school English teacher for 9 years in both public and private schools. He has spent 13 years in ACT test prep with Aim High Test Prep in Omaha, NE. He is the lead instructor and curriculum developer, authoring his own 350-page instructional manual. Adam is also an ACT Certified Educator (ACE) in all...
Oct 07, 2021•16 min•Season 1Ep. 249
Ready to learn the history, philosophy, and practice of an experienced professional in the test prep industry? MEET OUR GUEST Meet Leia LeMaster Horton , who has been an educator for over eighteen years. Her favorite subjects were Latin and Math. In the last seven years, Leia has focused her attention on preparing students for their college entrance exams and is the owner of Horton Test Prep . Through these years, she’s helped countless students raise their scores hundreds of points and turn dre...
Oct 06, 2021•18 min•Season 1Ep. 248
Ready to learn the history, philosophy, and practice of an experienced professional in the test prep industry? MEET OUR GUEST Meet Alex Chip , the founder of Top Score Education , a boutique tutoring, test prep, and academic counseling company headquartered in Washington DC, in 2005. Over the past 16 years, Alex has tutored several thousand students in high school and college admissions testing, developed innovative project-based learning programs for students of all ages, and launched new branc...
Oct 05, 2021•19 min•Season 1Ep. 247
Ready to learn the history, philosophy, and practice of an experienced professional in the test prep industry? MEET OUR GUEST Meet Jennifer Henson a.k.a “The GOAL DIGGER”, a nationally sought after test prep expert specializing in the ACT test. Jennifer, who was Winton Woods City School’s (OH) Teacher of the Year in 2014, holds a Master of Education degree with a Bachelor’s in English from Xavier University—where she was a walk-on tennis player. She’s taught for 21 years and coached ACT prep for...
Oct 04, 2021•19 min•Season 1Ep. 246
So many aspects of modern life represent obvious improvements over past practices. So why does it feel like we’re not consistently applying what we’ve learned about learning year over year? Amy and Mike invited educator and author Shane Trotter to consider where modern education fails. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What skills tend to be lacking in today's high school graduates? Which students do schools tend to focus on and exclude? What systemic educational issues are hu...
Oct 01, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 245
The existence of a science test sets the ACT apart from all other college entrance exams. What should a student do to be set apart from peers on this challenging test section? Amy and Mike invited educator Robin Satty to explore top lessons for ACT science. What are five things you will learn in this episode? How important is specific science knowledge vs other skills on the ACT Science Test? How has this section changed over time? How can students approach each of the three types of Science pas...
Sep 28, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 244
