This place will treat your child as a number. The only number important to Sylvan is the amount you write the check for. Education comes last. Your child will sit in a room with an iPad. There are educational apps that are more valuable to your child education than Sylvan. No returned calls or emails. Typical

Worst communication I’ve ever had from a business. No return calls. No response to an email. Do not waste you time, more & More importantly your child’s education. HARD PASS

Our daughter had completed her 30 weeks with Sylvan Learning in Gurnee, Illinois. When they arrived and were greeted by an employee who made it sound like he was unfamiliar with who she was. I am personally unaware if this was a new employee or what the situation was. For the employee to question what she was doing there and questioning if she normally goes there seemed very off kilter. If you are unaware if the child had been there, I feel, a better response would require a more friendly greeting. Even enquiring as to may I have your name, to look up your info? or if you are new, address that and explain you are new and I havent met you before, what is your name?I understand this may seem petty. However, I dont believe any parent or child should be made to feel that their presence in a business is unwarranted or potentially at the wrong place from the initial greeting.For the last 30 weeks we have yet to have any contact from the staff. There hasnt been any updates in regards to her progress or if there has been any. Any time I had dropped my daughter off, I had not been greeted by any staff member. It appears there is absolutely no check-in process and if there is it isnt done with a parent present. When I had been early and walked into the business I was able to see some of the tutoring taking place. Each time I was a little baffled by the lack of energy in the room. I get that it is a learning environment and it may be intentional as it is a study hall/library environment. However, if her time spent there was similar to the brief window of what I had seen then I can understand why she didnt enjoy going there. As I have heard, the majority of her time was spent on an ipad or the teacher reading off instructions in a monotone. These approaches would not get me too engaged either.Furthermore, when the 30 weeks were complete all we have received was an email showing what the cost would be if we wanted to sign up again.We made a choice to enroll our child into Sylvan to assist her in areas that require additional time and attention. When we committed to bringing her there we were made to feel that this would enhance her knowledge, get her caught up to her current expected level and would be a trustworthy place to leave her at. I do not believe any of these expectations were met. At the time of completing the 30 week course, is there not an assessment that can be presented to the parents to show the areas where she has improved or where she may still need assistance? I cant imagine that a very generic billing email would encourage anyone to want to immediately sign up. The same lack of personal attention in this email is a reflection of our entire experience with the company.As you can tell there were many areas of disappointment. I am not looking to be a consultant to how you operate your business. Nor am I looking for anything in compensation. I simply can not accept the treatment my wife and child experienced or the lack of involvement to the childs actual learning. This place does not care about the childs well being and they have no real commitment to assisting in the childs development. They have made it clear the $200/m is the only important thing. Ive sent multiple emails and have yet to receive 1 reply. DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD HERE!

Sylvan Learning Center helped my daughter excel in her Algebra class. She finished the year an A student in math thanks to Sylvan. The tutor was instrumental breaking down math concepts for my child to understand but also have the ability to decipher these concepts for herself. Now heading into high school she placed intoAlgebra 2 Honors class. Choosing Sylvan was the best decision I made for my childs academic learning.

My kids are going to Sylvan Gurnee since last three years for PSAT, reading, and writing. They loved working with Ms. Laura. Ms. Laura is awesome! My son is a very stubborn writer but he will do anything for Ms. Laura because of her friendly nature, his test scores have improved tremendously.Also, I love how accommodating they are with scheduling and time flexibility, thanks to Ms. Betsy, with her magic hands she will do miracles, she will go out of way to help every single family.These people they really care about students. Very safe and friendly environment.

My daughter was behind in Reading and after working hard and the help of Sylvan she is above her Reading level now. She has confidence now and loves to read! Very happy with the staff at Sylvan and Betsy is always helpful with any question we have.

Sylvan has been absolutely amazing for our son! I can’t thank them enough for helping our son in the area of reading. His school was unable to give him the extra help needed. The only thing his school cared about was test scores. My son would cry each morning about hating school and begging to stay home, which broke my heart everyday. He was only in 2nd grade and I feared what his school years held. His teacher took every ounce of confidence that he had and crushed it. Putting him into Sylvan has brought back confidence and he actually enjoys reading. His teacher was so proud that his test scores increased so dramatically..... again the test scores!! I made sure to let the principal know that it wasn’t the teacher or school that helped him with these scores it was Sylvan!

Very caring and encouraging staff! They helped me reach my ACT score goal. Bob was very helpful with the math portion and Betsy gave great advise! Highly recommend Gurnee Sylvan 😁

My daughter was behind in Math and since going to Slyvan she is doing great and her confidence has improved so much! After every session she leaves smiling and happy because she is getting it! The teachers and director are fantastic!

My daughter, and now my son, enjoy going. They both learn skills that will help them thrive in school.

As a student, i can say sylvan was immensely helpful! i took the act course (with $200 off i may add) and it raised my score 4 points for a score of 30! the teachers are nice and not too strict, but still care about each student. my experience was overall nice with a few bumps but most of teachers are nice, especially the director! its not as expensive as other programs i looked at so sylvan is a good investment for your child. good luck to all the students out there! X.

The Tutors here are wonderful and Betsy goes all out to make sure every need the student has is met! Highly recommend this place. Great new center director,Bob Klima

Sylvan Learning of Gurnee has really helped my son! When he fell behind in his schoolwork due to illness, the caring staff helped him catch up. They have taught him valuable study skills, and they really have gotten to know him as as an individual with his own unique needs. We cant say enough good things about Sylvan of Gurnee!

Betsy worked with our kids sports schedules, she is flexible and kind, and Alan is an excellent Math tutor. He helped our kids excel through AP Calc and the ACT tutoring also made a difference. Worth every penny.

I sent students to this location from the Grayslake Sylvan and highly recommend the Sylvan Way at the Gurnee Center! Their teachers are awesome at connecting with kids and helping them to get caught and ahead.

Friendly, caring and empathetic staff. My child’s self esteem and grades have improved since attending.

My daughter was struggling with geometry and Sylvan helped her achieve an A!!!!! Great leadership at this facility!

I love that they have made a tailored program for my children. My kids will succeed in school because of the foundation that we have made here.

I honestly cannot find words to explain how well Sylyan-Gurnee has helped my son. Its an exceptional facility run by an exceptional person Betsy Thomas. Betsy is always happy to see children and their parents. She is exceptionally encouraging and very nice. Her outward expression of care for all of the students is wonderful and puts them at ease. She works with together parents as partners who together define the best plan for the student.It is important to give her feedback so she can address any issues that come up. I found it very easy to converse with her. She has so much experience that she can address your concerns very well - she can alleviate them for you so you dont worry, or make sure your child gets the type of attention they need from the tutors (btw - Betsy is also a tutor).They motivate students to study and work hard by giving them tokens as a reward for their work that day. The kids buy prizes that are on display that they can buy with their tokens. After buying some small things my son put his eye on bigger things that required more than a days worth of tokens. This helped him (1) learn delayed gratification and that (2) if you work hard you can be get something you want. This is an incredibly powerful motivator for the kids.My son initially needed help with many subjects, math in particular. Once he achieved an average level in math we transitioned him to include reading along with math. We finally transitioned him completely to writing. We recently heard from his 5th grade teacher that he was in the middle level three grade level math groups, i.e., at grade level!!!He was recently elected to student council! My formerly shy son!Here is what I wrote to Betsy recently.Dear Betsy,>10^(1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000/3) thanks for all that you and your team have done for my son!He son was just elected to Student Council! Without Sylvan he probably would not have made it. He has progressed so much in so many different ways in large part due to you, your team, and your leadership at Gurnee Sylvan. You have put together a jewel and I am lost for words to express how much I appreciate your contribution to his progress.Thank you and have a great labor day weekend!ClaudePS - I am not compensated in any way for what Im saying. Not even a token! I just want to spread the word of this wonderful place where kids can learn and achieve.BTW - I think they have programs for advanced students too.- To the student who posted a review saying it is a racist place- I am sorry to hear you felt mistreated. I would offer a word of advice that is not useful now since you are no longer in the program but will hopefully be helpful in the future - when you felt you were not getting the best tutors because of your race it would have been good to approach Betsy about it or let your parents know so they could address it with her. In the future, approach people who can make the changes you want. Be sure to approach them cordially and let them know your concerns. If they are not responsive let someone else know in the same way. To get what and get an outcome you will be happy with in the long term make sure to be nice but also be persistent.For other reading this review in my experience is when I take my son to the center there are many students and parents of all races in the waiting room including many Black and Hispanic students and parents. I dont think Im wrong in saying most of these students do not sense any racism. They all get lots of attention from Betsy and her well trained tutors.