As a disgruntled employee, I have much to say regarding the franchises in and around Baltimore, MD. First and foremost, the centers are chaotic and disorganized. I worked for them for over two months, and never received my promised pay of a meager $11.00/ hour. I basically had to take matters in to my own hands and investigate, document, and solve a payroll problem which never should have occurred in the first place. Secondly, because of the disorganized manner in which my particular center is run, over 50% of the time, I was never provided with the correct materials which I needed in order to effectively provide the highly over priced instruction. I have had far too many instances to count in which I would have to wait upwards of 15 minutes just for a floor helper to find a child's notebook, (which contains the highly individualized instruction prescriptions we need in order to proceed with our lessons.) The floor staff is often spread so thin that they do not have the time or knowledge to search the center for the correct materials needed. The 3:1 student to teacher ratio is also ridiculous. I am a certified early childhood educator, and am expected to teach middle and high school subjects on a daily basis. I can read and follow a lesson plan as well as the next teacher, but Sylvan prides and sells itself on going that extra mile; something the teachers are often incapable and unqualified to do. Gosh I would love it if some show like Dateline or 20/20 rigged a child with a hidden camera and profiled exactly what goes on during those instructional sessions!They could gather months of program time by simply filming the ineffective practices, the deplorable condition of the books and materials; the inexcusable down time children spend staring off into space while you are struggling to explain reducing fractions to a ninth grader, (even though you are only certified to teach k-3!)_Bottom line, from a Sylvan employee, don't send your children there-it's a waste of time and money. You're better off hiring a retired teacher to come to your home and work with your child!
1. Written by Jonnyb007, on 31-03-2009 19:19
Um did anyone notice The tag on this thread? Thats some of the worst sentence structure and spelling I have ever seen posted on anything and to try and believe it came from a teacher is just ludicrous... Good luck with your complaints Im going to go rup someone off
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2. Written by MJW, on 22-10-2008 16:32
We seldom saw our owner who lived in the Phoenix area and who
declared bankruptcy in August 2008. None of us received our paychecks for the final two weeks of teaching and many parents lost money. We (the teachers) knew the owner was a "loser" the first night he met with us when he spent most of the time discussing his divorce. All of us who taught in the Prescott, AZ franchise had degrees and many of us had master's degrees and years of teaching experience. We all had trained extensively on the Sylvan Program and really cared about our students' learning. I found the business part of the Sylvan Learning Centers to be a huge "ripoff" and they obviously do not "check out" their franchise owners.
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