Education Consultant Licensing and IECA Quality Control

A recent article shows that it IS possible to educate troubled teens outside of "therapeutic" schools. In my view it shows the need for quality control regarding the education consultants that send kids to these programs. Here is the audio podcast of the story to better education you on the steps you can take when your child reaches the breaking point.

This would be difficult given the given the lucrative business of the Independent Education Consultant Association. Since education consultants don't need to be licensed to even become a member of IECA, you get a load of really shady individuals with backgrounds in this horrific industry. They're selling you something that's totally not educational as these facilities blur the line between a treatment center and a private school. It sounds good on paper, but it doesn't work as balancing both treatment and education in this type of environment creates a huge conundrum where your child will be deprived of important life lessons and experiences of being a teenager. IECA proudly gives out referrals to such facilities regardless of accreditation and track record because of a lack of quality control.

Quality Control is the testing and inspection of a product or service to meet specific criteria before putting it on the market. In other words, schools and colleges would have to meet IECA's quality standards before they can accept referrals from education consultants. Since education consultants don't have to be licensed, this does not exist for IECA at all! Meaning that consultants will refer parents to programs ranging from being very abusive to total scams. Many of which fall under both categories. The worst offenders are special needs programs for children under 18. Given the lack of federal regulation and oversight, it makes the situation even more dire. This allows states to have no standards whatsoever, to become a breading ground for dangerous and abusive facilities that masquerade as schools or summer camps while ripping parents off till they're broke.

Since special education students are often looking for options outside of their school district, whether it's transferring to a private school or post secondary options, it's time to provide resources with very strict standards for quality control. Most other sites don't fair much better than the education consultants as most offerings are lack-luster. This group of students deserve just as much as any other child, to be safe and nurtured at the same time.