Huntington Learning Center Named Among Top 50 Franchises For Minorities

Posted on October 18, 2007 by Bill Dube

(ORADELL, NJ) The National Minority Franchising Initiative (NMFI) has selected Huntington Learning Center as one of its 50 Top Franchises for Minorities, based on factors that include Huntington’s success in recruiting and supporting minority franchisees, historical performance, brand identification and franchisee satisfaction, among others.

In addition to market research, the selection was based on findings from a detailed questionnaire completed by existing minority franchisees and the senior managers at Huntington, as well as incentive programs offered to minority franchisees.

Founded in 1977 by Dr. Raymond J. and Eileen Huntington, Huntington Learning Center provides instruction in reading, writing, spelling, phonics, mathematics and study skills, as well as SAT / ACT preparation to tens of thousands of students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Huntington prides itself on unparalleled programs that help parents, caregivers and educators identify the gaps in skills and knowledge that can limit learning potential, and in providing a personalized program of instruction to enable children to excel.

            “Human capital and human potential are the most important resources in both education and business, so it’s always been important for us to invest in the professional development and well-being of our franchisees,” said Dr. Huntington. “Diversity enables us to build bridges that span the nation’s broad cultural communities, and it’s always been a winning factor in our equation for success.”

With the founding of the first Huntington Learning Center, the Huntingtons acted on their belief that personalized, one-on-one instruction could enable students who were falling behind in school to catch up academically while building the confidence needed for increasingly challenging schoolwork. They began with one center in a suburban New Jersey community, and ended up founding the tutoring industry as it exists today. The industry is now booming. Since 1988, the field as a whole has expanded at a compounded annual rate of nearly 12 percent, and is expected to reach a value of nearly $4 billion in 2007.

While the growth of the tutoring field has been fueled largely by the desire of entrepreneurial educators to create a stable, community-based business, it has also been driven by the rising number of parents and families seeking tutoring for students facing difficulties in meeting increasingly rigorous academic standards, particularly with the implementation of the No Child Left Behind education act.

            The need for supplemental education services is driven further by the rising number of students enrolled in K-12 public and private schools. According to the U.S. Department of Education, enrollment in elementary and secondary schools rose 20 percent, to more than 55 million students, between 1990 and 2007. The pool of school-age children is expected to continue rising slightly to reach 56.6 million students in 2014.

Huntington educators have also been encouraged by independent third party evaluations of Huntington’s particular attributes in the industry. In July, Hispanic Enterprise magazine named Huntington Learning Center one of the nation's Top 25 Franchises for Hispanics in the U.S. In April, Huntington was honored with FranNet’s #1 Partner of the year Award. And in February Huntington Learning Center co-founder Eileen Huntington was named as one of New Jersey’s Best 50 Women in Business.

 In March of 2006, Huntington Learning Center was selected for inclusion in Bond’s Top 100 Franchises. Also in 2006, Huntington was named by The Wall Street Journal’s StartUpJournal.com as one of the top 25 high-performing brands. As the only supplemental education services organization included on the list, Huntington Learning Center was lauded for criteria that include well-experienced leadership, strong financial health and a proven record of franchising success.