Editors’ Note

Before becoming the Chairman of Educate, Inc., Christopher Hoehn-Saric was the Chairman and CEO of Sylvan Ventures and Chairman of the Board and Co-CEO of Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc. In the course of his noteworthy career, he cofounded the Health Management Corporation (a health services company), LifeCard International (a medical technology firm) and Sterling Capital, Ltd., an investment company that in 1992 acquired what would become Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc. In 2005, he was the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year national award winner in the Services category. Hoehn-Saric serves on the boards of many companies, including Sterling Capital, is on the Advisory Council of the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins University, and is on the Board of Trustees for Johns Hopkins University.

Company Brief

Baltimore-based Educate, Inc. (www.educate-inc.com) is a leading education company that delivers supplemental services and products to students and their families. In its 28-year history, Educate, Inc., has provided personalized instruction to millions of students from prekindergarten through 12th grade to improve their academic achievement and help them experience the joy of learning. In 2007, through a merger transaction, Edge Acquisition, LLC, became the owner of Educate, Inc. The companies that were part of Educate, Inc., were split into the following independent companies: Educate, Inc.; Smarterville, Inc.; Educate Online, Inc.; Progressus, Inc.; and Educate Corporate Centers Holdings, Inc. The companies are now operating independently to better serve students, families, and schools across the country.

Can you give a brief overview of where Educate, Inc., is today?

Educate, Inc., is a leading provider of educational services. As such, the company takes advantage of the growing demand among consumers for services that supplement what goes on in schools, and that help kids build their academic skills and confidence.

Our learning center network consists of more than 2,200 centers in North America and Europe, operating under the Sylvan Learning brand in North America and the Schülerhilfe brand in Europe. We are the best known, largest, and oldest tutoring network, having helped millions of students from kindergarten through grade 12. We provide quality education programs, operations, and marketing support to this network, which is largely franchised to local owner operators.

We also deliver services to students in their homes through live, real-time online tutoring services and face-to-face, in-home Sylvan tutors, and we provide college prep services through our Ivy West company.

We support students in school through our Catapult Learning Schools Partnership company and run our Ace It! franchise, delivered by Sylvan franchisees.

Do you see opportunities for more international growth?

Yes. I think we have great opportunities to grow internationally. We’re seeing growth in places where there are increased numbers of people who want access to a university, and typically that’s in almost every growing economy around the world. In the United States, over the past 25 years or so, the number of people accessing higher education has gone from about 45 percent of the eligible population to almost 70 percent. The number of college spots has not increased too dramatically, and yet the population has increased. All of those things put a great deal of pressure on people to get into the college of their choice, and that starts with young kids. Parents are looking for ways to improve the opportunities for their kids. That phenomenon is even more dramatic in places such as Mainland China, Korea, Japan, and other countries that not only value education but will also see a dramatic increase in the next 10 years in the number of people expected to go to universities.

Have you been using technology in the way you’re delivering services?

We have been using technology. Our business, though, is still one that is best provided face-to-face. Imagine a student who is going through algebra, which is a difficult subject, and has only a few months to make an impact before the end of the school year. The help this student needs has to be done in a predictable fashion and in an intensive manner – those things are often best done face-to-face. That said, we are providing more online tutoring services, and that is growing pretty significantly. We did about $20 million in online tutoring services last year and probably will do 50 percent more than that this year.

So many companies are focusing on giving back and being involved in the community and in education. Is the corporate and public-private partnership working well?

Education is the second-largest part of the economy, and it is largely public sector finance. The spending that we have done on education in this country is nearly $1 trillion – that’s just kindergarten through 12th grade. So what can corporations do? Corporations can provide assistance on an ad hoc basis, and we do, but when I think of a systemic basis, I think the responsibility tends to fall more on taxpayers and individuals. That said, corporations have been very generous in different situations, but they tend to have an impact on only one small part of the community.

How do you differentiate yourself from the other companies out there that talk about offering quality services?

We benefit from the huge amount of analytical data we get from measuring students’ performances before and after they take the programs we offer. We use the same assessments that are used in schools and offer very intense activities that yield results quickly. We have a very detailed assessment process to find out where a student is really having trouble. From that assessment, we create a personalized program focused on that child’s specific learning needs. Within a short period of intense instruction, we can really help students make dramatic improvements due to our personalized curriculum approach.