ECMC Provides College Planning Resources for Educators to Assist Students in Middle School, High School and Beyond

MINNEAPOLIS—Educational Credit Management Corporation (ECMC), a national nonprofit focused on student success, has launched enhanced training programs and resources for educators as they seek to guide students to and through education beyond high school at a time when most students believe in the necessity of education but lack preparation for the future. ECMC’s national trainings are designed to help teachers, counselors and community-based organizations open the door to postsecondary education for learners of all ages.

For the past year, ECMC has worked with Georgia State University’s National Institute of Student Success and Mapping Your Future to update ECMC’s educator guides, workshop formats and presentations.

“Educators tell us our training programs help them determine how their campuses are using resources and how they can create safe spaces for their students,” said Lori Auxier, director of outreach for ECMC. “By enhancing our training programs, we are hoping to more effectively educate the educators with essential information as they work with students who may not have considered postsecondary education as an option.”

ECMC provides three training programs targeted at learners at different points in their education journey:

• Believing the College Dream is targeted toward educators working with middle schoolers and shows students that college is within their grasp, helps them believe in their ability to succeed and teaches them how to identify people who can support them. The training also gives families and communities tools, information and the college-bound attitude they need to support their students.
• Realizing the College Dream is targeted toward professionals working with high school students—particularly those from low-income and first-generation backgrounds—and provides hands-on activities and workshops about planning and paying for college, experiences that challenge students to see themselves in college and information about the economic value of college.
• Persist in Higher Education is targeted toward individuals working with students who are attending postsecondary education programs and offers tools designed to increase retention and graduation rates, particularly for students from low-income and first-generation backgrounds. The program helps educators assess retention performance at their school, create programs that support academic success and help students who are concerned about paying for college.

“The last decade has been one of incredible developments in student success, with new evidence-based approaches and technologies helping to deliver personalized supports to students at scale,” said Timothy Renick, Ph.D., executive director of the National Institute for Student Success at Georgia State University. “The National Institute for Student Success partnered with ECMC to ensure that the training guides include support for implementing the latest data-informed practices in the field.”

ECMC also provides free workshops and downloadable curriculum guides to teachers, counselors and community-based organizations for free.

Education professionals interested in ECMC’s National Trainings program should contact NationalTrainings@ecmc.org to learn more or to request training.