Word: preps
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Recovering from the first faceoff (Schor: 1, consumer culture: 0) the hype-buster targets her next victim. Just as our ears begin to readjust to the relatively soft hum of Harvard Square, we open the door to Pacific Sunwear, where the music is not quite as loud as its prep school-as-lifestyle neighbor-but could still sustain a pretty hopping nightclub...
Well, that's the way it is now. If you want to get a sense of the future, take a look at Achieva College Prep Centers, an education company. Give Achieva your child beginning in freshman year of high school, and the staff will help your teen pick classes, clubs, community-service projects and summer jobs, all with an eye toward creating a snazzy profile to present to college admissions directors. Achieva will tutor when your youngster falls behind and do the test prep to pull your kid ahead. The twentysomething counselors, who resemble the well-scrubbed models from...
...Test prep and tutoring have been around awhile, along with one-on-one private college counseling, services usually purchased by the wealthy. But the advent of Achieva signals something very different. The company is the first to join all three jobs in one program, micromanaging a student's life. Achieva's pitch is simple: while others boast they'll increase a student's grade by one letter or an SAT score by 100 points, Achieva says all of last year's 1,050 clients got into college, and 85% ended up at one of their top two choices...
...Side Union school district contracted with Achieva for college counseling, it marked perhaps the first time a business had been hired in public schools to handle an academic area. And this year Fred deFuniak, principal of Silver Creek High School, is thinking of hiring Achieva not only for test prep but also to teach reading and writing skills. "This may be controversial, but you have to be innovative to get results," he says. "Parents and legislators are demanding accountability...
...counselor ratio to 650 to 1. Moreover, the person hired would be saddled not only with giving college advice but also with staying on top of disciplinary and psychological problems. For the same amount of money, DeFuniak is planning to employ three Achieva counselors to do only test prep, a service he expects to translate into a 50-point jump in SAT scores. He says such gains are more likely to help his kids--87% of whom are minorities, many from disadvantaged families--make college an option...