Huntington Learning Centers Keeps Sending Me ACT Score-Raising Ads | deutsch29

Huntington Learning Centers Keeps Sending Me ACT Score-Raising Ads | deutsch29:

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:

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 5/23/15

Special Nite Cap 

CORPORATE ED REFORM

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CURMUDGUCATION: Newark: The Civil Rights Lie

CURMUDGUCATION: Newark: The Civil Rights Lie:

Newark: The Civil Rights Lie

Friday, the students of Newark took to the streets. Thousands of students. Students from many different schools within the city. They took to the steps of City Hall, and then they moved to shut down the main drag. And unlike a previous protest in Newark, this one resulted in actual press coverage. In addition to coverage from Bob Braun, who has covered the story in Newark faithfully, the walkout was also covered in the "regular" media here and here.

As always, the students' actions were thoughtful, measured and positive. Their message was vocal and clear. Accountability for superintendent Cami Anderson (skewered in one sign as "$cami"). A return to local control. And end to charter takeover of schools that have no need of takeover.

Imagine you are someone thinking, "I believe that equitable education is the civil rights issue of our era. I believe that students who are not wealthy and not white are not represented and their needs are not respected. I am concerned that without test results, these students will become invisible."

Could you possibly have stood in Newark and said, "Boy, I just wish there were some way to find out what black families and students want, or what they think about the direction of education in Newark."

And yet, per nj.com, the district had this to say:

"While the District supports our students' right to express their opinions and concerns, we cannot support these actions when they disrupt the regular instructional day," Parmley said in the statement. "The District remains committed to broadening opportunities for Newark's students through expanded learning time and through creating additional professional development opportunities for teachers." 

Right. The district remains committed to doing everything except actually listening to their students. They will tell students what they need. They will tell students what they want.

Reports indicate that throughout the district, principals followed a directive to shut the student voices down by any means necessary. Hold lockdowns in the schools. Run long assemblies. Make phonecalls to threaten families with consequences (no prom, no graduation) should a student walk CURMUDGUCATION: Newark: The Civil Rights Lie:

A Costly Tax Break for Nonpublic Schools - NYTimes.com

A Costly Tax Break for Nonpublic Schools - NYTimes.com:
A Costly Tax Break for Nonpublic Schools

Gov. Andrew Cuomo can talk passionately about improving New York’s “failing public schools,” but when he made that point at churches and a yeshiva last Sunday it was, at best, disingenuous. He was there to sell his bill that would help private and parochial schools, by offering big tax credits to their donors. This energetic effort for an expensive and possibly unconstitutional bill that Mr. Cuomo has named the Parental Choice in Education Act could cost the state more than $150 million a year. That money should be used to help almost 2.7 million public school students in the state, not given to wealthy donors subsidizing mainly private or religious schools.

Elizabeth Lynam, a budget expert for New York’s Citizens Budget Commission, called the bill “an extremely lucrative benefit likely to serve the state’s wealthiest taxpayers.” Many of the people who would get the credit already support their favorite private or parochial schools, she said. A tax credit to encourage them isn’t needed.

The bill would allow a 75 percent credit on donations of up to $1 million for each individual or corporation contributing to funds for students in private or parochial schools. That is a huge change from existing law, which offers far less lucrative tax deductions. Typically, for the wealthiest taxpayers, the maximum state tax deduction on $1 million is about $22,000. The Cuomo plan would cap the number of tax credits it gives out and create a complicated system of deadlines and requirements before donors could get the full benefits. Those difficulties add to the suspicion that only someone with a fancy accountant could easily take advantage of this tax bonus.

The $150 million pool includes millions of dollars in tax credits for donations that could provide scholarships to private or parochial students from families with incomes of up to $300,000 a year, which hardly targets the neediest students. And, in an attempt to attract support from the Assembly speaker ,Carl Heastie, and his Democratic majority, Mr. Cuomo has proposed $70 million for a tuition credit of $500 per child sent to nonpublic schools for families with incomes of up to $60,000. There would also be $10 million a year for public-school teachers, including those in charter schools, who could get up to $200 each in tax relief when they buy classroom supplies.

With this misguided bill, Mr. Cuomo may have found plenty of support from religious leaders and private school donors. But his efforts seems jarring, given his record of seeking more accountability in schools. The state has little say in private and parochial schools over testing, the teaching of basic subjects or other data collection required for assessing a good education.

Moreover, taxpayer support for religious education has been banned by the state Constitution for over a century. Exceptions were made long ago for universal needs like transportation and special education, but there are questions as to whether the kind of public support for religious schools the bill proposes would be prohibited.

Republicans in the majority in the State Senate are all for the governor’s bill. It will be up to Mr. Heastie and the Assembly to make sure it doesn’t pass. A Costly Tax Break for Nonpublic Schools - NYTimes.com:

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

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