Sylvan Learning Center, Educate, Catapult Learning ripoff capitalizing on your child's failure Livonia Michigan

A few points. It is silly to say that sylvan is in it for the money, everyone works for money. I will say ,having been in this field for over 25 years, that it was much worse when the dept. of education was in charge. Now that was a ripoff. No curriculum, no trailers,no workshops, no supplies. Sylvan provides these to all teachers. By now, I have hundreds of students who have learned to read, use the English language, and do math under my tutelage.

Let us understand that the diagnosis of individual learning problems is difficult. Sometimes the child is a late bloomer, or there is an emotional component which precludes any visible progress, or the child needs one-on-one attention in order to succeed.One thing I can agree with is the mistake sylvan makes of paying experienced
teachers poorly; in fact, most sylvan teachers are underpaid, and reluctant to give their all.

Pointers as follows. You are still in control. Call the teacher weekly, ask about progress,
remind her to create lessons around what your child needs to succeed, demand to see your child's work.

He's currently enrolled in a "magnet" school, which only takes the best and the brightest in the county. This is after having gone to Sylvan for 2 years at a very hefty price. We are very pleased with the results.

BTW Cory, not all of us can be home to teach our kids.

Semper Fi.

Hello to all the teachers, parents and other people,

I am a current employee/teacher for Princeton Review. I actually was seeking to acquire a job at sylvan 'cause I wasn't very happy with the rate Princeton is paying me. I get paid 19 bucks/hr for teaching and that's just for starters. I get a raise every time my students give me good reviews and when they get good grades on their SAT. And I thought that rate was low, lol.

Well, after a little searching on the internet, I came across TONS of discussion regarding sylvan's integrity, frugality and general inability to teach. I thought it wouldn't be fair to compare sylvan with Princeton Review because I never worked for the former. But Seeing that there are teachers and parents here, I thought it would be nice to let them do the comparison while I just offer the facts.

From what I heard, it seems like sylvan is advertising its less than 3 to 1 teacher students ratio. When I teach for Princeton Review, a max class is 12 students and usually the class is full. And naturally with lower ratio, should come higher performance. So my question to the sylvan for all the parents out there is this: what does sylvan guarantee, say for high school students who want to prepare for the SAT? Princeton Review's guarantee is this: unless your grade improves by at least 200 points, you get your money back or you get to take another course for free. I have friends who work for Kaplan and they pretty much guarantee the same thing.

I kinda feel sorry to the sylvan teachers who seem to fall victim to sylvan's replaceable parts theory, where teachers do not see students all the way through. If you work for either Kaplan for Princeton Review, from what I experienced or heard, the satisfaction you get from seeing your students' score improve on the actual SAT does count for something. And if you work for Princeton Review for more than a year, you get to take one course yourself for free. So it's great for college students who want to take GRE or MCAT soon. It helped me get a 36 on my recent MCAT:D. Princeton Review pays for training 8 bucks/hr, not a lot, but at least you are paid for it even if you don't get selected in the end.

Finally, I'm not advertising for Princeton Review, because let's face it, companies that big and fat and juicy don't need advertising or defending for that matter on this remote forum. My advice to parents is this: if you ain't rich, go look for college students who want to make some money and is willing and is more capable to help your kids. If you have money and want your kids' score to improve, shop around these tutoring companies for the best.

Best wishes,

Mike

As a former employee of Sylvan, I know what goes down there and it has very little to do with education. I've posted a lot about Sylvan on here, but I feel as if I must, people need to be told the truth about what a fraud this company really is.

Let me lay out some facts about Sylvan and you can decide:

-Sylvan Corp. demands that each table must have a 2.8 student average, despite claiming that children will receive individual attention. Having three students at a table makes it almost impossible to give the kind of help that struggling students need.

-I was told by the center director at Sylvan that "I wish I could spend money to train teachers, BUT Sylvan won't allow any money to be spent on it." So when Sylvan says that their teachers are specially trained to help children, it's a total lie. I received NO special training when I was hired at Sylvan.

-Sylvan on average takes in over a couple thousand a day, YET the teachers are paid on average 10 dollars an hour, this may seem justifiable BUT listen to this, when a teacher is working with three students at once for an hour those students together are paying around 150 dollars, whereas the teacher is only making 10, something doesn't add up here. When I pressed Sylvan about it they claimed that most of the money was going to teaching supplies. If this is the case then why are most of those teaching supplies, especially the books outdated and old?? Many of the pages in the books I was using were yellow and ratty.

-What about the price of the Sylvan Skills Assessment exam, around 250 dollars, funny how almost every other standardized test cost much much cheaper, hmmmmmmmmm.

-Why is it that Sylvan has suggested that desperate parents sign huge contracts, for thousands of dollars, usually taken out in loan from Sallie Mae, one of the most notorious loan agency for charging high interest. Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. I can bet you that those execs out in Baltimore aren't driving around in Yugos.

-And finally, why is it that ALL of the former employees seem to be telling the same story, with the same details. I can assure you that we've never met and aren't conspiring against Sylvan. So why is it that we all seem to be saying the same thing, hmmmmmmmmmmmm, another brain teaser there.

So in the end you be the judge, I've finally put my issues with Sylvan to rest and have moved onto other more important things, BUT one thing I can say is that, I've laid out cold hard facts about Sylvan, other people on here have done a good job plucking at the heart strings, playing a song defending Sylvan. Strangely enough there song sounds a hell of a lot like Sylvan's tv commericial.

Peace

As a former employee of Sylvan, I know what goes down there and it has very little to do with education. I've posted a lot about Sylvan on here, but I feel as if I must, people need to be told the truth about what a fraud this company really is.

Let me lay out some facts about Sylvan and you can decide:

-Sylvan Corp. demands that each table must have a 2.8 student average, despite claiming that children will receive individual attention. Having three students at a table makes it almost impossible to give the kind of help that struggling students need.

-I was told by the center director at Sylvan that "I wish I could spend money to train teachers, BUT Sylvan won't allow any money to be spent on it." So when Sylvan says that their teachers are specially trained to help children, it's a total lie. I received NO special training when I was hired at Sylvan.

-Sylvan on average takes in over a couple thousand a day, YET the teachers are paid on average 10 dollars an hour, this may seem justifiable BUT listen to this, when a teacher is working with three students at once for an hour those students together are paying around 150 dollars, whereas the teacher is only making 10, something doesn't add up here. When I pressed Sylvan about it they claimed that most of the money was going to teaching supplies. If this is the case then why are most of those teaching supplies, especially the books outdated and old?? Many of the pages in the books I was using were yellow and ratty.

-What about the price of the Sylvan Skills Assessment exam, around 250 dollars, funny how almost every other standardized test cost much much cheaper, hmmmmmmmmm.

-Why is it that Sylvan has suggested that desperate parents sign huge contracts, for thousands of dollars, usually taken out in loan from Sallie Mae, one of the most notorious loan agency for charging high interest. Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. I can bet you that those execs out in Baltimore aren't driving around in Yugos.

-And finally, why is it that ALL of the former employees seem to be telling the same story, with the same details. I can assure you that we've never met and aren't conspiring against Sylvan. So why is it that we all seem to be saying the same thing, hmmmmmmmmmmmm, another brain teaser there.

So in the end you be the judge, I've finally put my issues with Sylvan to rest and have moved onto other more important things, BUT one thing I can say is that, I've laid out cold hard facts about Sylvan, other people on here have done a good job plucking at the heart strings, playing a song defending Sylvan. Strangely enough there song sounds a hell of a lot like Sylvan's tv commericial.

Peace

As a manager of a Sylvan Learning Center, I would like to respond to the perception of what happens at a Sylvan listed in the above comments versus the reality of what happens in a Sylvan. The teachers we hire, and keep, are teachers who care about kids first and foremost. And we reward those teachers accordingly. Teachers who are looking for something better to come along are probably more detrimental to our students than anything.

The tuition we charge families not only covers the teacher pay, but it covers all materials that the student needs, it covers a dedicated director who closely monitors the student's daily work, communicates monthly with the school the student attends so that we can make sure what we are teaching the child is having an impact on classroom work, we communicate constantly with the student's parent so that we know we are all on the same page and the parent can be constantly updated on the student's progress.

It pays for ongoing assessment tools, progress reports, software licensing, research, motivation tools, rent, electricity, and other basic overhead needs. How much of that does a college student provide?

The programs are research based, many developed in conjunction with organizations such as Johns Hopkins, NCTE, and NCTM. All of the programs are based on standards set forth by these organizations. How many tutors can say they provide the same? What guarantee do private tutors make the parents?

All the instruction that a child receives is individualized to the skills that child needs. The initial testing sets the starting point only. Future assignments are given based on the student's performance on the previous daythis is done by the dedicated director for that student.

We move at the student's paceif that means quicker, great! But if the child needs to spend more time, we can do that as well. How fast the child moves through the program is not dictated by the school year. Those of you who commented that you only used workbooks at your tables at Sylvan, shame on you! Those books are merely tools for the teachers to use.

We hire and keep teachers that shine with outstanding teaching skillsthe good teachers do shine! Number of years in the classroom does not indicate how good a teacher someone is. It is an indicator of self worth.

Grades are not always the best indicator of the skills a child has. Nor is asking the teacher. How much individual attention can be given in a classroom of 30-35 students? Our classroom teachers struggle to get it all done every day, much less know what each and every child in their class needs! I have seen honor roll students who can't read but their work ethic is such that they earn As at school.

I've been to high school graduations for student's whose 6th grade teacher said the student would never read! Where would those students be if the parents had listened to the teacher?

Jim said his daughter attended 160 hours. With students in school around 180 days per year, that's about 180 hours of instruction in the area of reading (I'm assuming Jim's daughter was in the reading program) that means that his investment of 160 hours (approx. $7000 by our tuition rates) was less than a school year, and based on my experience with Sylvan, after the 160 hour investment, he probably didn't need to spend another penny on tutors.

Yes, that could be a year's worth of college tuition, but had he not taken his daughter to get caught up, would she have had the skills to go to college? What would the price tag be to keep her home another year? Do a year of non-credit classes because her SAT scores were too low?

Of course Sylvan is a business that needs to watch its bottom line. But that makes the quality control all the more important. Parents don't have to spend their hard earned money at Sylvan. If we don't deliver on the service we promise when parents initially call, we don't stay in business. There are enough people out there like Elizabeth, Laura and Leslie telling parents that Sylvan is a rip-off that we have to prove our selves to these parents DAILY that we truly believe in their children.

As I read this thread of comments I see teachers complaining about how much Sylvan charges the parents and that we are only concerned about the bottom line, and how you, as teachers, can make more money tutoring on your own. Interesting.
And I NEVER hire a teacher who's first question is How much do you pay. This tells me where their priorities are and what kind of quality I can expect during instruction.

Yes, I am a Sylvan champion. Not because of money or because of who signs my paycheck, but because I believe we make a difference in the lives of children. . .children I believe in.

How about your sentence that reads:
Were you get let go from employment at a Sylvan?

Those in glass houses shall not throw stones. I am a public educator. Apporximately 2 years ago I applied for a job with Sylvan. My spouse works late, I become very bored at home. I figured I could pick up a few hours a week, and make some extra spending money. After my interview there is no way I would work for Sylvan, send a kid to Sylvan, or suggest to a parent they use Sylvan. Here is what they told me:
1. I would be paid $10 a hour, despite having a masters degree and five years experience.
2. If I was going to be absent for any reason I would need my own substitute, or else be terminated.
3. I would work with 3 students at a time. Never the same 3 students.
4. I would have 5 minutes to prepare for all 3 students, and 5 minutes to make notes after the session. This would also be the time I could use the restoom or take a break.
5. We would only use the workbooks provided by Sylvan (lowest form of learning)!
6. I would need to show up for a Saturday staff meeting once a month. I would not be paid for the meeting. If I didn't show I would be terminated.
7. You are not permitted to leave your work station without the approval of the floor supervisor. A high school student.
8. Parents pay $55 a hour for their students. If I am working with 3 students that is $165 a hour, and I am only making $10.
9. I was only to focus on one skill a week, even if the student mastered it immediately. I wonder why that is? Extend the time they came to Sylvan maybe???

As far as parents doing homework with their kids, this is not always the best solution. This can cause great conflict in the family, especially with a struggling student. Parents don't always have the necessary skills to teach. I am not degrading parents, but it is a skill you must learn to be effective. I suggest hiring college students majoring in education. It will be cheaper. You will get better results. YOu will have more individualized attention.

As far as working for Sylvan. There is no way I would degrade myself in a position like that...

There's been many changes in what a young student must do to remain enrolled in public schools. Many elementary schools now require their students to wear parochial school-type uniforms to class (white shirts or blouses and blue slacks or skirts). Not sure how studies will show this to have affected scholastic performance, but my guess is it can't have improved grades much.

Does Sylvan Learning Center require its students to wear uniforms in the town where you live? The move to lessen public school costs on the taxpayer has reached great heights in some parts of the nation, some people are solidly set against public schooling. What happens in a learning center such as what Sylvan is could be an indicator as to what direction education is heading in the country.

So, what will happen when public schools are closed, when all children have to attend private schools or no schools at all? What will people have to say about Sylvan Learning Center then?

Quality education is important. Where should your child get it?

I hope that no one gets angry with me about this. Elizabeth - kudos to you on your honesty and, Jim - kudos to you on caring so much for your kid. I am a current Sylvan teacher and my students can be divided into two groups - those whose parents are very concerned about their kid's education and those who need a babysitter. Jim, I am so glad you are in the first category.

I know that there are some kids we help. But, as a whole, I have to agree with Elizabeth. I always have three kids at my table. I only get to teach them for 50 minutes. Sometimes I will have one kid learning how to read, one kid doing algebra, and one kid reading for understanding. There is no way I can give them the individualized attention Sylvan promises in their commercials. I basically hand out worksheet after worksheet. The worksheets are in books that we do not have the legal right to copy and, technically, cannot use the way we do. The kids either do their work in a notebook (which they don't take home) or on a piece of clear plastic that they erase when they are done. The parents don't get to see the work they do with me. My "breakthroughs" have been in beginning reading and math. The beginning reading program is wonderful and I usually have all beginning reading kids at the table, so it's more of a group instruction and I can interact with all of them. As for math, it seems the biggest problem is that kids don't know their math facts. Once they get up to speed on those facts, they tend to catch up.

I, personally, would not put my kid in Sylvan. Parents can hire college students for a much cheaper rate and actually get one-on-one instruction. Some college kids have to donate time tutoring to complete courses in education. You can't get cheaper than free.

Although I appreciate the pay I get from Sylvan, I would not advise it. I am not slighting the teachers or the students who attend. Like I said before, many of their parents ARE concerned. The teachers I work with are wonderful people who are certified to teach. Most of us are stay-at-home moms looking to make some money and to work within our career fields.

I wish Sylvan were more honest in their commercials. Also, if I were a parent paying $50 an hour, I'd want some tangible evidence of work done during the 50 minute instruction period.

Just food for thought!

The Teachers at Sylvan, are also Government School teachers. Yep, that's right. They teach at a Government School during the day and head on off to Sylvan at night. Her lack of spelling skills shows how tenure needs to be eliminated.

My kid was doing badly in Government School. I ponied up the cash and he went to Sylvan for a year. His grades went from dismal to outstanding. His Government School teacher was so proud(yes, she actually tried to take credit for his improvement). For what? She did nothing.

Now, I'll tell you what the difference is in Government School, and Sylvan. In Government School, the kids run around and get in no trouble. The teachers write their names on the board a million times and tell the parents how bad they are. Don't forget to dope them up on brain candy! Suggest to the teacher and principal that maybe they should take charge of their wards and correct them appropriately, and you will be rebuffed and told "we don't believe in spanking". They actually call it beating. These tards cannot figure out the difference between swatting a kid on the butt, and breaking their arm. What did you expect? These are the same morons who have 5 year olds arrested for sexual harrassment(kissing a girl at recess), and have "zero tolerance" policies so nobody has to make an informed decision about anything. Ummm. The reason people get an education, is so they can LEARN to make INFORMED decisions about everything. Dumbasses. I remember about a year ago, a High School baseball player was expelled and arrested for having a "peanut bat" in his car on Government School grounds. That was a deadly weapon according to the principal. The duffel bag filled with aluminum bats in the car were okay. An 8 inch souvenir from the local minor league team was "deadly", but the full size, metal clubs in the backseat were fine. MMMkay?!

Can you guess yet, I have absolutely NO respect for Government School teachers and administrators? Remember who it is that doesn't want Government School teachers to be able to teach, in order to keep their jobs.

At Sylvan, the kids are told to sit down, and be quiet. WOW!!! Just like when I went to school. Sit down, and be quiet. No drugs to make them do it. They just sat down, and zipped their lips. If the kids were unruly, they got sent to the Principal for a much needed whoopin'. Unbelievable. It worked, every time it was tried.

One other thing. If the teacher fails to perform his/her duties at a Government School, it's okay. They cannot be fired. Well, unless you have sex with the students, maybe. At Sylvan, as with ALL private Schools, and privately owned businesses of any sort, fail to perform, and you fail to collect any more paychecks.

We took our daughter for testing, and found out that she was two grades behing on several subjects. I found that difficult to believe since she past the last few years with B, and Cs.

We decided not to go further when they told us that she would need a minimum of 4 hours a week @$45/hour+tax. I am not sure how many famlies can afford $1000 / month.

For the total cost of the program I could enroll my daughter in year of university.

There is little value for you money if your child recieves 15 to 20 minutes of instruction and then spends the rest of the time doing the excercies on thier own.

The program is marketed well, and there may be many success stories, but $ylvan is not the only option, shop around.

Nice response. Let me clear up one thing...I am not an employee of the company.

Evidently, I hit a nerve.

Don't you think your attack on the service might have been "personal" to me? As a consumer, I made the decision to invest in my daughter and it worked...big time. Now, you have the nerve to suggest that my attack was personal to you?

You seem to be living in denial.

It's too bad you had a bad employment situation at Sylvan but lambasting the whole system because of it IS absurd.

Best of luck with the corps. Hopefully, the experience will be life changing for you.

Hi Jim,

I've been expecting you! Although it took you awhile to respond, I correctly assumed the champion of Sylvan would have a rebuttal eventually. How long did it take you to craft that response? Anyone that does a quick search on Sylvan will quickly find that Jim always takes it upon himself to defend this company's reputationleaving one wondering if he's the one that has an agenda. After all, it would seem pretty strange for a mere consumer to back the same big business time and time again. So what are you Jim; a regional director for the company in question? I'm probably giving you too much credit.

One of the many problems with Jim's rebuttal is that it lacks any real substance in defense of this company. Jim was more interested in a personal attack on me, than defending what is probably his employer.

Since you're so interested Jim, let me tell you about me.

First of all, thanks for the well-wishing on the job hunt, but with a resume like mine, you don't have to depend on luck. As opposed to your incorrect guessing, I am not a private tutor, and Sylvan did not let me go. As I said, Sylvan was a transitional job, kind of like working at a movie theater, or as a waitress. I came, and then I left when I found something better. It didn't take long.

Currently, I work as a teacher through the Teach for America Corps, maybe you've heard of it? To enlighten you, the corps is a group of teachers sent around the country to public schools where they are needed most, in an effort to alleviate social disparities and otherwise affect social change in the communities where we live and work. They use a highly selective process to choose corps members from around the country. They choose people who are most likely to affect positive change during a two-year time period. That's who I am, Jim. Thanks for asking.

Now to address the issue, and separate the people from the problem. I know, as you should, that working in the field of education is a noble pursuit. I'm glad that Sylvan worked for your daughterit better have, considering she spent 160+ hours there. Don't you think, Jim, that you could have saved a lot of money and time teaching her to read at home? You have, after all, been in education for 29 years, right? Research has shown that the most successful readers learn most of their language and reading skills at home with parents that model these same successful skills, but you knew that, didn't you? That's what I call researched, proven and effective. I hope Sylvan gave you an employee discount.

I wish you could have responded to the real issues. Where is the one-on-one instruction that they claim to provide? Where is the individualized lesson-planning? They have teachers to implement the programs, to be sure, but how are they any more qualified than any other substitute teacher or tutor? We take Sylvan tests, to get Sylvan teacher certified, it's true, but you know how they administer the test? At a staff meeting, our site director gave us the tests, and then gave us the answers. Too bad they didn't show that on the commercials.

Bottom line, again. They are a business turning a profit. Why should they truly have a student's best interests in mind? Microsoft is also a researched, nationally recognized corporationdoes that mean they have their consumer's best interest in mind? Come on, Jim. Now who's being absurd?

Based upon paragraph 3, sentence 4 of your discussion, "I can safely say that well over half of my students didn't need to be THEIR"...
It sounds like you could use a program or two at Sylvan before you apply for that real job you are talking about.

After reading your comments, I wonder ...

Were you get let go from employment at a Sylvan? Are you angry with the situation because you feel you were not being paid enough for your good work?

Please tell my adult daughter who just graduated from University with a teaching degree that Sylvan produces "dependant/mediocre" learners. She could not read in grade two and, based upon her graduation and the 160+ hours she spent at Sylvan in the late 80's and early 90's, our investment in Sylvan was worth every penny.

Finally, to suggest that it is more prudent to go to a private tutor over a researched and proven effective national program using certified teachers you call a band-aid solution is...well...absurd.

Are you now, that private tutor?

We inquiring, dependant/mediocre robot learners would like to know!

Good luck in your job search.

I got a good laugh out of this one. That's half the problem right there. These people would rather pay someone to try and teach their kids then sit down and do it themselves. As for Sylvan being a business. That's what business' do. Make money. Many of your comments are good ones and reflect what a sad state of affairs our education system is in. I think many of these kids are just looking for a little bit of attention. We may need more educators like you.