Avoid if possible - Lead Teacher Sylvan Learning Centers Employee Review

The worst part of Sylvan is its seeming disregard for the education of its clients. It was more important that students progress through the approved software than it was that students learn. The contract is very restrictive. You are prohibited from tutoring anywhere else during or up to a year after your employment ends. The contract also stipulates that you are not allowed to use "know-how" gained at Sylvan in future positions. I consider this requirement both entirely unenforceable and a silly position for an educator. Sylvan provided minimal, and ineffective training. The training focused not on how to teach or how to use the software, but on the minute routines of the day and explained how the software works. To make the training more irrelevant, the routines outlined in the training were not used by any on site staff. Management gave me no indication that they knew what they were doing. Despite filing a W-4 with the company, they took out a single $20.00 for taxes from one paycheck for the entire year I worked for them. The company recklessly promoted a staff member to run the center without sufficient training or vetting. This resulted in the company losing tens of thousands of dollars when the staff member forgot to charge clients for services. The company also recklessly promoted me, a college student with no formal education experience, to operate the center and communicate with and sell to clients. Again, this promotion came with zero training.