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Top 10 Education Consulting Firms

Education consulting firms – and education consulting as a whole – aren’t as flashy or popular as strategy consulting, but they play a crucial part in advancing or responding to the disruption happening in the education world today. As such, education consulting is a sub sector of consulting that is ripe for growth.

Education consulting firms – whether education policy consulting firms, higher education consulting firms, or K-12 education consulting firms – offer services to improve operational processes for educational institutions or companies that serve them. They help ensure maximum cost efficiency, improve student outcomes, streamline governance, and drive fundraising. In addition, institutions often pull on the expertise of education consulting firms to help plan for long-term shifts in the industry.

There are 2 kinds of education consulting firms: boutique firms that only offer education consulting services (like Kennedy & Company or Higher Ed Associates ), and management consulting firms that have substantial practice areas dedicated to education consulting (like BCG , McKinsey , or LEK ). For the purposes of this article, we’ll be focusing on the latter. Without further ado, let’s get into our rankings of the world’s top education consulting firms.

Top Education Consulting Firms List

Mckinsey & company.

It’s no surprise to see the world’s most prestigious firm at the top of this list of top education consulting firms. McKinsey & Company works with education clients as part of its Public and Social Sector consulting practice. Objectives of this work include reforming school systems, transforming higher education institutions, delivering education-to-employment solutions, improving use of education technology, and guiding investment decisions.

Boston Consulting Group

BCG’s Education practice has experience supporting education initiatives at the local, national, and global levels. BCG has helped to improve student-learning outcomes of 2.2 million students in India and partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation to better education in the U.S.

Bain & Company

Bain advises across the education sector with clients in primary through higher education as well as e-learning. Firm objectives include redesigning the university model to make higher education accessible to more students, improving school operations and organizations, and rationalizing traditionally complex organizational structures. One case study from Bain’s work in education consulting: the firm worked with Charles Town High School to improve test performance, quality of life for students and faculty, and attendance ( read more ).

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EY (Ernst & Young) works with education clients in the public and private sectors and offers services from strategy through implementation and across sub sectors including K-12 system and schools, higher education and workforce development, education service providers, and education transactions. EY-Parthenon , the firm’s strategy consulting arm, has a major focus on education, making it a powerhouse in the space.

KPMG is a top education consulting firm that works across the education sector to serve K-12, vocational education and training, and higher education clients, as well as strategic planners and funders. Common services include budget and financial management, organization development, audit, organization development, cost reduction, and research. KPMG puts its higher education consulting work under its Higher Education, Research & Other Not-for-Profit (HERON) practice. In addition, the firm recently joined UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition .

LEK Consulting

L.E.K. Consulting’s Global Education Practice (GEP) serves the education sector through corporate growth strategy, mergers and acquisitions, marketing and student recruitment, and organization and performance. The firm conducts consulting engagements across the globe in all education segments – from early childhood to K-12 to higher education. LEK Consulting is one of the world’s top education consulting firms because of a combination of advanced analytics, robust strategy, and deep industry experience.

Deloitte offers a range of higher education consulting services in the areas of financial and operational efficiency, technology transformation, student experience, cyber risk, and organizational leadership. Deloitte’s education consulting engagements run the gamut, from large institutions to small liberal arts colleges to academic medical centers to community colleges and more. The public sector group also works with other education clients outside of higher education.

PA Consulting Group

PA Consulting Group identifies as a nontraditional consulting firm that focuses on innovation for good. The firm’s education consulting practice focuses on education reform and transformation. PA Consulting has worked on projects including how higher education can thrive post-pandemic and how universities can protect against cyber-attacks. The firm’s clients include Cambridge University and Oxford Brookes University.

Nous Group is an international management consulting firm of 400 employees with offices in Australia, the UK, and Canada. Their work in the education sector has included cost saving strategies for universities, better workload management at schools, and insights on what the global crisis taught universities about higher education. Nous Group works with a range of public, private, and not-for-profit education agencies.

CIL Management Consultants

CIL Management Consultants has a slightly different flavor from the previous firms, because it does work in a number of sub-sectors inside the education space. While it serves education providers (ex: universities), it also works with clients in corporate training, EdTech, and skills training. The firm helps its clients identify strategies for growth and improve competitive advantages.

Honorable Mention:

Tyton partners.

Tyton Partners gets an honorable mention as a top education consulting firm, in part, because of its unique makeup as a combination of investment bankers and strategy consultants. This combo allows the advisory firm to advise educational institutions with a unique set of capabilities. Tyton Partners provides the strategic insight, capital expertise, and creativity needed to help drive growth for its clients.

Is remote learning a boon or a burden? Are curriculum creators serving the best interests of students by releasing “updated” textbooks every year with little to no real updates? Will EdTech change the way we learn forever? How many universities will permanently close because of COVID-19?

With questions like this facing the evolving higher education market, there are plenty of opportunities for education consulting firms to provide support. If the idea of working to better the education space excites you, education consulting might be right fit for you!

Additional Reading:

• Top 25 Consulting Firms
• MBB: McKinsey, BCG, Bain- Are They Really the Best?
• Consulting Resume: Complete Guide
• Case Interview: Complete Prep Guide

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A National Education Consulting Provider

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SCHOOLWORKS® is a national education consulting provider and certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) with the mission of advancing all aspects of student learning and well-being by building the capacity of educators and educational institutions to assess, plan for, and achieve student success.

We work with schools, districts, networks, state departments of education, charter school authorizers, and various education agencies to support sustainable school improvement through five key service areas: Accountability and Authorizer Supports, Quality Reviews, Instructional Supports, Leadership Supports and School Developer Supports.

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Our continuum of services allows us to meet each client’s needs. explore how you can partner with schoolworks through one or more of our service areas..

• Authorizer Support and Technical Assistance
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Our Educational Consulting Services

Every educator and education professional starts out with the same goal: to help students reach their full potential.  However, this is a complex undertaking impacted by a vast range of factors.  Even educators and administrators committed to providing the best possible guidance must contend with challenges related to their school, district, budgeting, and the socioeconomic conditions in their area, along with dozens of other relevant influences.

Addressing the challenges inherent to education can seem overwhelming, but SCHOOLWORKS® is here to offer educational consulting services that help you create better schools for the children in your community.  Maybe your school is underperforming and you want to generate improvements to academic growth on state and other assessments, student attendance, graduation rates, college persistence rates, and more.  Perhaps you’re interested in measurable improvements to teacher practice that increase student engagement, retention, and overall learning.  It could be that you’re tasked with getting approval to open new schools for the benefit of the student population.

At SCHOOLWORKS®, our primary goal is to help educators, organizers, developers, and other education professionals to find the best ways to advance all aspects of student achievement and well-being.  We proudly partner with schools, school districts, charter networks, educational support organizations, and even state departments of education to build capacities that lead to measurable improvements.

Our goals are the same as yours – to create the high-quality schools that students and communities deserve.  Together, we can develop actionable strategies and achieve targeted results that advance the interests of schools and students.

In our capacity as educational consultants, we strive to help educators and educational institutions in five key ways, by providing:

School Developer Supports

For school developers, the application process can be tedious and prohibitive, even though it is necessary.  At SCHOOLWORKS®, we have skilled and experienced project managers to oversee the application development process, whether we’re reviewing and providing feedback, completing existing drafts, or authoring applications tailored to your vision.  We even have a self-paced school developer course you can take. The application process can be tricky, and our experts are on hand to help ensure success.

Quality Reviews

Comprehensive reform requires an objective understanding of strengths and areas for improvement, which we’re pleased to provide at the school, district, and network levels.  Our on-site reviews and specialized reviews of academic programs, curricula, instruction, and related services are conducted using research-based protocols to ensure a fair and accurate analysis of school and district programs and operations, which can be used for improvements or for the purposes of accountability.

Accountability Services

Accountability can be a major factor in improving and maintaining school performance, and SCHOOLWORKS® provides consultation services that help organizations to develop frameworks for evaluation, complete those evaluations, and, if desired, use the data collected to make recommendations for improvements.  These services help school districts, state education departments, and charter school authorizers to create clear expectations, develop oversight, and maintain accountability.

Instructional Supports

Educators need proper support in order to provide the best learning experience to students.  Our MORE program helps educators to Master, Observe, Rate, and Elevate the quality of instruction with in-person training, feedback, classroom visits, and follow-up support.

Leadership supports

With leadership coaching, improvement planning support, and third-party monitoring, we help school and district leaders to define objectives, create plans of action, and measure results.  Our learning and support services help leaders in education become the change they want to see.

In addition to our regular consulting services, we’ve recently added Remote Learning Plan Development and related support services to help schools and districts struggling to pivot during the COVID-19 crisis.  We’re happy to help you assess the quality and efficacy of remote learning plans in order to improve and develop best practices for successful outcomes.

Benefits of Public and Charter School Consulting Services

At SCHOOLWORKS®, we are passionate about improving education for students, educators, and communities because we have worked in education ourselves.  All of our managing directors and consultants are former teachers, authorizers, school leaders, or other professionals that have worked in roles similar to yours.

We understand the challenges facing school developers and educators today, and our goal, like yours, is to provide students with the best educational opportunities.  Our services rely on evidence-based practices that provide targeted data and insights, leading to the development of actionable strategies.  Our public and charter school consulting services are designed to improve the quality of schools at every level.

Educators, schools, school districts, charter networks, educational support organizations, and state departments of education can all find the support and solutions they seek with the help of the dedicated and experienced professionals at SCHOOLWORKS®.  With school developer supports, quality reviews, accountability services, instructional supports, and leadership supports, educational institutions have the opportunity to improve student engagement and achievement.

Strategic School Development Services

At SCHOOLWORKS®, we understand the complex challenges schools and districts face today, which is why we proudly offer comprehensive public and charter school consulting services.  Improving educational institutions requires support for develops, leaders, and educators.  It requires quality reviews and accountability.  While some consultants meet some of these needs, the former education professionals that make up our consulting staff provide a full range of specialized services that truly address the difficulties inherent to modern education and help to create the best possible learning environment for students.

Experience You Can Trust

As former teachers, authorizers, school leaders, and more, the experienced professionals at SCHOOLWORKS® have been in your shoes, which means we have a unique understanding of the challenges you face.  This gives us an edge when it comes to providing effective educational development consulting services and collaborating on actionable strategies for improvement.

Friendly, Knowledgeable Professionals

When it comes to promoting student engagement in learning to drive achievement and success, the last thing you need is consultants coming in and telling you you’re doing everything wrong.  What you need is passionate individuals that understand the challenges educators, leaders, and developers face today, and that have the skill and experience to help you achieve strategic and measurable improvements.

Our friendly and knowledgeable staff not only has a background in education, but we’ve been offering educational consulting services for over two decades.  We know how to pinpoint problem areas and empower teachers, leaders, and developers to improve quality and elevate student achievement.

Your Partner in Educational Transformation

Although schools across the nation face many of the same challenges, every school and district is unique, which is why SCHOOLWORKS® offers consulting on public and charter school development that reaches every level of educational operations, from educators, to leaders, to developers, to state departments of education.  As former educators and leaders ourselves, we’re passionate about transforming the education system to create the best possible opportunities for future generations.

Through instructional, leadership, and developmental support and collaboration, along with quality reviews and accountability services, we provide an all-inclusive approach to developing strategies designed to improve schools and districts at every level.  This only helps to ensure the best possible educational opportunities for students, and the greatest support for communities.

Introducing SchoolWorks Charter Application Bootcamp!

Thinking of launching a charter school? Not sure where to begin? Check out our new online course, brought to you by the trusted experts at SchoolWorks.

McKinsey is committed to improving lifelong learning opportunities and outcomes around the globe by collaborating with clients on their top-of-mind issues while always keeping equity at the forefront. Our teams include former teachers, institutional leaders, policymakers, and researchers with deep expertise across all levels of education from early childhood and K-12, to higher education and workforce development.

We serve education institutions and systems, governments, philanthropists, investors, service providers, and vocational training providers, complementing our hands-on work with original research to allow us to better understand the sector’s toughest challenges, and build new capabilities to help solve them.

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Strategy and implementation, organizational and performance transformation, education venture building, partnerships and mergers, examples of our work.

Launching a large-scale online learning initiative for a leading public university system

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U.S. Higher Education Faces a Moment of Truth

Covid-19 may be the last straw for many long-struggling schools. Survival will require extreme steps in the near term, and plenty of innovation over the longer term.

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Universities are reacting with determination and creativity to the new challenges they face. Budget deficits have mushroomed following sudden declines in endowment values, deep cuts in education funding and limits on tuition increases.

Competition in the global job market is making new programs, new training and new models of instruction essential in order for students to obtain gainful employment after graduation. And amidst a fluctuating student population, universities are harnessing new technologies, such as e-learning, as a way to reach even more students.

These pressures place core academic missions of teaching, research and outreach at risk. To help bring the focus back to schools' core missions , Bain is helping institutions get back on the path to success:

• We are working to redesign the university model to make higher education a reality for more students across the US.
• We closely examine school operations and organizations to determine which administrative support functions, and redundancies, are diverting scarce resources away from higher education's core purpose.
• We are finding ways to rationalize traditionally decentralized and highly complex organization structures with widely disparate service levels and unworkable spans of control.

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Educational Consultant Jobs: Transitioning Out of the Classroom

TeacherCareerCoach

Educational consultant jobs are a great fit for teachers transitioning out of the classroom. One of the most common questions I get asked is “what is educational consulting?” This blog will help you understand what you need to know and some next steps to help you if this is a path you are interested in.

If you need help leaving the classroom, check out the  Teacher Career Coach Course .  This step-by-step guide has helped thousands with a transition from teaching. Save time and get support with every step of picking a new path, rewriting your resume, and answering tricky interview questions.

If you are a teacher looking for a career outside of the classroom but still want to remain in education, one successful career path is becoming an educational consultant. Teachers often flourish in these positions because the work needed combines their teaching skills, administrative skills, and presentation skills. Educational consultants do a wide range of duties, sometimes providing qualitative advice on policies and procedures for companies. Some educational consultant jobs are similar to the duties of a professional development training position, training schools and districts. Educational consultant jobs, simply put, are looking for experts in education and job duties will vary depending on who the employer is.

Educational Consultant Jobs: I s this the right career for you?

A large majority of educational consultants work as freelancers. They reach out to school districts on their own and book training opportunities. They charge for full day PD packages or an hourly rate to help with onboarding new teachers, etc. Schools have an available amount of funding that they can use for this type of work.

There are companies that hire teachers specifically as educational consultants to train on specific trainings for districts. They will hire the top candidates to conduct PD (and often allow current teachers to do this as a lucrative side-gig) and fly them around the country to host trainings.

When working as an educational consultant freelancer, you don’t have to only work as a professional development trainer for districts. There are also educational consultant jobs within education companies. But you’ll need to have everything in place in order to start approaching companies as a freelancer. Click here if you want to learn more about freelancing for teachers .

An educational consultant’s job is to provide guidance on curriculum, resources, and teaching styles. Educational consultants make decisions and improvements in school systems, corporations, and home-based settings as well. An educational consultant job may be a full time career change or a part-time or freelance deal to start. This, of course, will depend on your personal goals – long and short term.

Skills for Success

First, teachers with an eye the big picture and finding innovative ways to solve problems have an aptitude for many of the skills needed for educational consultant jobs. You’ll want to showcase your subject-matter expertise with pedagogy and best practices.

The suggested skills and certifications for educational consultant jobs include: competence in researching, reporting, and analyzing data; experience or aptitude monitoring teachers to offer constructive suggestions; and knowledge of state and local rules regarding curriculum requirements.

You’ll want to create high quality presentations in order to deliver the information to clients or school districts. You can create a branded look by using a free program like Canva.

A Key Skill For Success: Networking

Networking is also important, especially for educational consultants who are working in a freelancing capacity. You’ll want to stay in with others who have ins at companies or districts they may be able to refer your services to. You’ll also want to attend conferences to meet others in your field.

If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, then an independent educational consultant job, where you are hired by parents or schools, is an option. It can give you the freedom to set your own schedule and work in any area you choose. This will take quite a bit of research and networking to get started. But, once you build a robust set of contacts to rely on, you’ll find plenty of opportunities.

Do Your Research

While you are on the job search the internet is a useful and valuable tool, especially Google. You can start by searching for educational companies or school districts near you. This should provide you with a helpful list of companies and school districts that are already looking for consultants. You will be surprised at how many companies are in need of a person with the skills of a teacher.

You can research other educational consultants to see what types of packages they are offering to help you prepare your own.

Where to Find Educational Consultant Jobs

Online job boards, such as LinkedIn, Glassdoor and Indeed, will also help to find open educational consultant jobs. Plus, you can use these sites to find additional information and reviews on topics. Such as: growth potential, employee profiles, promotions after 10 years, etc. This will help you decide if a company is a good fit and worth pursuing. 

What to Look for in a Company

Educational consultants are in demand in companies large and small, and there are pros and cons to both.

Larger companies have more name recognition, stability, organizational impact, but are harder to move up the corporate ladder. They will often have more hiring power so educational consultant positions may be more available at a larger education company.

Smaller companies are more flexible with job openings and growth potential variety. Employees will also be able to take advantage of opportunities to take on multiple roles and learn new skills. But a smaller company is less stable, especially if it is a start-up. Educational consultant jobs here may end up becoming much more long-term.

Here’s a helpful tip:

If you love the idea of working for yourself, sign up f or educational conferences as a speaker and pick a subject you are passionate about teaching. This is a great networking opportunity where you can meet companies or districts that may hire you. Meet people in your community with connections and contacts that may prove to be useful while building your client base and offer to do the same presentation at their school or district.

Be Willing to Take a Chance

Finally, I’ll share a story about how I got into educational consulting – by taking a chance. After I’d left the classroom, I stumbled across an educational consulting job with a software company. This job opening was amazing because I am passionate about technology in education.

The job was training teachers on how to effectively implement technology in the classroom. My classroom experience gave me a huge advantage over the other applicants. This educational consultant job had amazing perks. “ But what’s the catch ? ? ” I thought.

I’ve created a Teacher Career Coach podcast episode where I talk about my role as an educational consultant .

When opportunity knocks, don’t be afraid to answer the door. Transitioning out of the classroom is a big step. It can be overwhelmingly scary to leave a career that you once thought would bring you to retirement. But taking that step into an educational consultant job or any other career outside the classroom could impact your life in ways you never imagined.

Help for soon-to-be Former Teachers

This is proof positive that there are plenty of opportunities out there. Companies are looking for the talent and the skills teachers specialize in, including jobs as an educational consultant in particular.

If the classroom is no longer your cup of tea, there are plenty of opportunities and resources available to you. You can find the right job to match your skills, just like I did. Because of this, I created a course to help walk teachers through transitioning out of the classroom. The Teacher Career Coach Course has helped thousands of teachers transition out of the classroom.

This complete course will walk you through all the steps to transitioning out of the classroom. For example: identifying the positions you are the most qualified for, writing your resume, network with the right people to get your foot in the door, answer tricky interview questions, and more! We’ve helped thousands of teachers begin their transition. Are you ready?

free quiz: what career outside of the classroom is right for you? →

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