Huntington Learning Centers Keeps Sending Me ACT Score-Raising Ads
Over the past two school years, I have received numerous advertisements from Huntington Learning Centers (HLC), all geared toward ACT prep, and all advertising the following “testimonial”:
I just received my ACT scores a few days ago, and found I scored a 33, six more than my original score! I couldn’t have even come close to this if it weren’t for your help….”–Will C.
Now, “Will C.” (I can’t help but think, “We’ll see…”) does not state that this 33 is acomposite score. It could be one of four subject scores. One cannot know from this limited advertisement. However, a prospective HLC parent could surely read that 33 as an ACT composite and assume that Will C. would have had “only” a 27 (hardly an embarrassing ACT composite) had it not been for HLC– and that HLC has the power to move ACT scores and therefore, to open college acceptance and scholarship doors for all students.
I am concerned about parents being suckered into dumping money into some ACT jackpot mirage. So, I did a bit of investigating about HLC and offer it here for parents to read as part of making a more informed decision regarding retaining HLC’s services.
The first place I went in my HLC investigation was the HLC website. On its website, HLC offers a number of testimonials for exam prep, academic skills, and subject tutoring. Will C. is not among them.
HLC notes the following about its tutors:
All of our tutors are college-educated and are either state or Huntington certified and many hold advanced degrees, usually in education.
So, HLC tutors may not be teachers, but they will have some level of college education and will be “Huntington certified” (whatever that means). According to this same page, there is a “Huntington System and its teaching methods” and a “Huntington curriculum.”
When it comes to test prep, HLC is careful not to trap itself with any guarantee of a certain score but stays with a pretty general message:
Huntington helps students score higher on important college entrance and scholarship exams like the SAT, ACT, and PSAT, as well as high school entrance exams and other exams, such as the GED and ASVAB.
However, on the job review site, Glassdoor, HLC makes the same specific claims in response to more than one poor reviews by former employees. In short, one identified as “HLC senior manager of recruiting and employee relations” claims that students Huntington Learning Centers Keeps Sending Me ACT Score-Raising Ads | deutsch29: