Sylvan Learning Centers is expanding its New Jersey footprint, including a center opened in Edison last month.
The location at 1110 Route 1 N. is owned and operated by Rick Hernandez and his daughters Rachel and Nadia, who for the last 16 years ran youth athletic nonprofit Elite Youth Sports Academy. The center opened on Oct. 23 and is the second location to open in New Jersey in 2021.
Chief Executive Officer John McAuliffe projects up to five additional New Jersey locations in the next year.
“We’re trying to expand everywhere at this point. Northern Jersey seems like an area where we have a fair amount of territory for our new franchisees. Rachel and Nadia, they’re a great group. They bring a business mindset and educational background,” McAuliffe said.
The COVID era has allowed Sylvan’s business to grow “fairly dramatically,” McAuliffe said. Virtual learning posed challenges for many students, and Sylvan went entirely virtual as well. What students couldn’t glean from their teachers, he explained, was easier grasped from Sylvan tutors, with a better student-teacher ratio.
“In a school environment, where the teacher is teaching to 20 students virtually, making sure the kids are engaged is difficult. But the teacher-student virtual we do has a low student-teacher ratio. A year ago, we were 100% virtual, and now we’re back, and over 80% have come back in center,” he said. “The parents, they’re grappling for the social aspect for their kids. In a center they’re in a three-students-to-one environment.”
Traditional tutoring hours during the school year are 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. In the summer and on weekends, those hours are lengthened. To keep kids engaged, Sylvan employs a system where kids get tokens for good work throughout the day that they can exchange in a gift shop. Transition time between tutoring sessions includes fun games.
“Our hope is more and more people will be able to get the academic help that they need [through Sylvan],” McAuliffe said.
The most recent Sylvan location to open in New Jersey was in Colonia, owned by franchisee Wayne Davis. When he signed his franchise agreement, he said he intended to open three or four more locations in New Jersey and to bring Sylvan to Ethiopia and Ghana in the next five to ten years.
“Personalized learning is the greatest value I see in Sylvan Learning — everyone learns differently and needs a personalized and nurturing learning system. Sylvan Learning is great for kids who are hardworking but don’t know their own work ethic yet. I want to help with the education of the youth in my community and make a long-lasting impact,” Davis said. “As a Black man, my heritage has come a long way during hard times. No one knows the future of education, but education impacts everyone.”
