LearningRX Complaints: Falsified Test Results.
(UnhappyFranchisee.com) According to the LearningRx franchise website: “LearningRx is one of the top educational and child franchises in the nation. We change lives every day through the incredible power of brain training! Our programs are designed to target weak cognitive skills and help anyone from age 4 to 94 to achieve guaranteed results.”
LearningRx franchise centers promise guaranteed results for children and adults with ADD, ADHD, autism, dyslexia, reading problems, learning disabilities and other challenges.
LearningRX programs are pricey, often costing $5000 – $15,000. However, part of the LearningRX sales pitch is that they guarantee results – or your money back. However, some former LearningRX employees have claimed that their LearningRX franchise either put undue pressure (and financial incentives) on testers to do whatever it takes produce positive test results – and thereby avoid a refund.
Others claimed they were blatantly instructed to falsify test scores to exaggerate the effect of their program.
Are you familiar with the LearningRX franchise? Please share a comment below.
Some allege that some LearningRX franchise locations intentionally falsify test results to show bogus improvement – and avoid paying refunds.
thetruthbetold wrote:
I worked for learningRx in a management position and as a trainer… i witnessed test scores being changed to persuade parents to sign up or continue after completion… It is grossly overcharged without a flat rate so each family pays what the owners can get out of them! …its not the program itself that’s a problem it is the fact that now franchisees can open up shop, claim to be pseudo-medical and exploit children with disabilities by taking advantage of their desperate families…
ErinM wrote:
I worked for them for many years, and they are EXTREMELY corrupt. The trainers are all great people who do exactly as they are told, and help motivate the students. However, they will scam you out of your money and falsify test results. I felt guilty being a part of it after a while.
Lauren P. wrote:
I worked with a LearningRx franchise for 2 years before taking on the role as a test examiner. Shortly after taking on the role, the director pulled me aside and complained about the lack of growth in the final testings I had administered. He said it was very important to remember that our success as a center relies on results found in the final tests and that basically my paycheck relied on seeing growth in the final tests. I’m not stupid and I know what he was asking me to do… I refused to alter final testing scores and was fired from the role. The excuse was that I was not administering the test correctly. I was heartbroken. All of the results I thought my own students were achieving were false. The director was willing to trick parents and manipulate a credible test like the WJIII to make money. It seems most, if not all of these franchises carry this attitude about testing and it’s all about the buck with the directors. I would advise buyer beware.
first-hand-experience wrote:
I also was in management with LearningRx. Let me start by saying, I worked at two different locations (each with different owners). I started as a receptionist and tester and worked my way up to Assistant Director. The first center I worked at was everything negative you’ve heard so far. Everything from falsifying test scores to trying to make her employees claim they were independent contractors…
Others allege that the type and frequency of testing used by LearningRX skews results to indicate progress that doesn’t exist.
One commenter states that progress demonstrated is a result of LearningRX “teaching for the test.”
Alan Balter writes:
…The training is specific to the woodcock johnson III, so if I pretest you and you score badly, then train you specifically to the test, then you show growth ( i would hope), did you really grow? It would be like giving you all the answers to the SAT or intelligene quota and then saying you’re brilliant or belong in MENSA when you do well. bottom line they’re not accurately measuring the programs true effectiveness by not accounting for threats to internal and external validity.
Allison Edge agrees:
As a trainer and tester at Learningrx, I’d like to say that you should be careful when going there. Standardized assessments like the initial and supplemental tests are not meant to be given more than once a year. LearningRx gives them every 4-6 months. This allows the student to get a higher than average score on the test…
sydneysjrstate wrote:
Keep in mind the tests they use to measure grade improvement don’t necessarily correspond to what children are doing in school, and if your child shows two grade level improvements on THEIR TESTS, they get to keep YOUR MONEY!
Lisa wrote:
If you are not familiar with the system, the entrance test and exit test is identical. LearningRX bases success on whether or not the person being trained moves beyond what they are initially able to complete on the test. For instance, if he/she is able to do 3 out of 8 steps on the test when he/she first takes the test, but completes 5 out of 8 when they complete all training, LearningRX has succeeded in helping the person. So, on paper and according to their guarantee, their program has worked. However, there was absolutely NO improvement in any of the areas that had been discussed during the initial visit! In fact, some grades were even worse while taking the training – this was explained away as “normal” at the half-way review point.
Barbara Crewell wrote:
My daughter went through this program at the beginning of this year… now that she is in 8th grade everything has just gone downhill. She has worse grades than ever and has dozens of missing assignments. So I feel like I threw away 7,000 dollars on the product that has no true guarantee. Your guarantee is if she doesn’t improve they will give you an extra month free. That doesn’t sound like a guarantee at all. Maybe if it doesn’t work they refund your damn money, how bout that?
What do you think?
Do LearningRX franchise owners falsify test results?
Is the LearningRX system skewed to indicate imaginary progress?
Are LearningRX trainers and testers under pressure to return positive results, even if it requires questionable tactics?
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH LEARNING RX AND THE LEARNING RX FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITY? PLEASE SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.
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*** Conflicts of Interest in Answering the Phone ***
Mom: Hello, I got your mailer. How does your program work and how much does it cost?
You remember from training that Kim Hanson (daughter of the founder) told you how to answer the phones. These are the rules:
* Do not tell the customer the cost of the programs on the phone.
* Do not answer detailed questions about the program on the phone.
To avoid these questions, you must take control of the conversation like this:
You: May I ask who you are calling about?
Mom: My daughter Sarah
You: How old is Sarah?
Mom: 10
You: What are you seeing with Sarah that prompts your call?
Mom: She really has a hard time paying attention or remembering things.
You: [Express empathy then...] Our initial assessment is only $199. It will tell you why Sarah is struggling. The assessment takes about one hour. Are you available Thursday at 9AM or Friday at 10AM?
Your goal is simple (though not as easy as it sounds sometimes), avoid answering questions such as cost and program duration or how the program works by taking control of the conversation. Your goal is to get the parent to schedule an assessment.
##### INHERENT CONFLICT #1 #####
As a parent, you want to call LearningRx to get a no-hassle answer to your quick questions so that you can decide whether you are interested.
As a franchisee, you want to postpone answers about cost, program duration, or how the program works until the consultation because you are much more likely to have the interaction result in a sale.
*** interjection ***
As a potential franchisee, you should read from beginning to end as part of your due diligence. However, some may just want an overview of the inherent conflicts in the LearningRx business model; you can look for the posts will all caps INHERENT CONFLICT to find and read these easily and quickly.
## Conflicts of Interest in Initial Assessments
Sarah's mom schedules the assessment for Thursday at 9 AM. You promised Sarah's mom that the assessment will show why Sarah struggles with attention and memory. You want to deliver on that promise and get your first customer. But are even qualified to administer a cognitive skills assessment?
First, to answer this question, let's consider the training you received in Franchisee Training.
At Franchisee Training, three or six months ago now, Dean Tenpas (son-in-law of the founder) gave you less than a day of training on how to do Woodcock-Johnson assessments. Each test was explained briefly, demonstrated, and then you got a bit of time to practice. At the end of the training session, you were told that to finish your certification to become an assessor that you must administer three additional assessments on your own (without any oversight or correction) just to get practice.
Second, to answer this question, let's consider one of our experiences in doing assessments in our own center.
By personality, I am organized, methodical, diligent, and persistent; I wanted to do assessments perfectly. Yet, I still found errors in how I (and others I trained) administered the Woodcock-Johnson III assessment. Many, many, many of the assessments we did had unintential errors in the administering and scoring of the test.
Third, to answer this question, let's consider the experience of one of our assessors who went on to be certified to do Woodcock-Johnson III assessments at a university.
She told me that the standards to become certified at the university were significantly higher than those at LearningRx. The university required more training, more practice, and more oversight to ensuring that the assessment practices were consistent with all testing norms. She said that despite all of my efforts, she still found errors in how the test was administered and scored in my center.
##### INHERENT CONFLICT #2 #####
As a parent, you are entrusting your child to be assessed by a certified professional assessor because you want the test results to be valid.
As a franchisee, you are not qualified to do assessments with so little training and so little oversight. You are even less qualified to teach and oversee others as you delegate these responsibilities within your business.
## Lacking Objectivity in Assessing Clients
Assessments are supposed to be an objective measure of a child's abilities and/or
inabilities. Objectivity is key. The assessor must never want the assessment
instrument to show any particular result -- whether good or bad. Sarah's mom
expects this.
Yet every employee in your LearningRx center knows that a low initial assessment
score is more likely to result in a parent signing up for brain training. Thus,
there is an inherent bias toward a child performing poorly on the initial assessment in every LearningRx center.
Keep reading to learn that the attitude of the franchisee, trainers, and
assessors (all LearningRx employees) is very different when it comes to final
assessments. This difference is explicit, noticeable, and substantial.
## INHERENT CONFLICT #3
As a parent, you are entrusting your child to be assessed by an unbiased
certified professional assessor. You expect the assessor to be completely
objective and the results to be as accurate and reliable as possible.
As a franchisee, you know you are more likely to get a client if the scores are
low. Thus, by definition, you are biased in that you want the test to lead to a
customer as often as possible.
## Unqualified to Interpret Assessment Results
Sarah's mom will complete paperwork while Sarah is taking her assessment. This
paperwork asks what mom is observing in Sarah, what she expects from LearningRx, and the severity of Sarah's struggles. We will call this paperwork the 'intake form'.
When you were at Franchisee Training, Ken Gibson himself (the company founder)
came in to show you how to recommend brain training programs based on the intake form and assessment results.
The process as taught is really quite simple: look at the intake form to learn
each parent's concerns and expectations, then link those concerns (at a
superficial level) to the assessment results.
* If the parent is concerned about reading, recommend ReadRx.
* If the parent is concerned about math skills, recommend MathRx.
* If both of these is a concern, recommend ReadRx and MathRx (Einstein).
* If neither of these is a concern, recommend ThinkRx.
These programs are typically 24 weeks for ReadRx, 24 weeks for MathRx, 12 weeks for ThinkRx. These programs can typically be increased in increments of four weeks.
In Franchisee Training, every single example client result resulted in a
recommendation. Ken leaned back and proudly mentioned a period of his life where he was able to sign up 90% of prospective clients. This was presented as a goal for all of us franchisees -- sign almost everyone up for a program.
However, this is not a burger franchise. This is a business where you are
offering a professional service based on your supposed expertise. What does an
hour or two of Franchisee training do to make you an expert in assessing Sarah?
* Are you an expert in brain science?
* Are you an expert in cogntive skill assessment (Woodcock-Johnson)?
* Are you an expert at linking linking cognitive skills to brain function?
* Are you an expert at linking cognitive skills to real-life struggles?
The sad answer to these questions is that you are an not an expert in any of
these. You aren't even competent in any of them. [Dr. Jodi Jedlicka --
franchisee in Wisconsin -- might be able to say she has some of these
qualifications.]
With few exceptions, franchisees are pretenders. They are told to speak with
confidence in areas where they lack even basic training, knowledge, and skills.
They are told to be the 'brain expert in their community.' You are unqualified
to interpret thee assessment results.
## INHERENT CONFLICT #4
As a parent, you expect a qualified professional to advise you about whether
there is a correlation between your child's cognitive abilities and struggles.
As a franchisee, you present yourself as an expert with the qualifications to
advise parents. Franchisee training leaves you unqualified in at least these
ways relative to advising clients:
* brain science
* performing assessments
* interpreting assessments
I rewrote the previous two sections as I wrote subsequent sections. Here is a better version of each.
## Unqualified to Interpret Assessment Results
Franchisee training is two weeks long. If all of these two weeks were completely
devoted to understanding brain science, understanding cognitive skills, and
interpeting assessment results, you would still be unqualified to advise parents
on these matters.
No time will be spent in franchise training on brain science, whether anatomical
or functional.
Very little time will be spent understanding what science can tell us about
cognitive skills such as memory, working memory, long-term memory, attention
skills, processing speed, auditory processing, visual processing, and logic.
Very little time will be spent understanding how to interpret assessment
results which involves linking assessment results to the real-life struggles of
children.
At the end of this training, this will be the assessment of your skills.
* Are you an expert in brain science?
* Are you an expert in cogntive skill assessment (Woodcock-Johnson)?
* Are you an expert at linking linking cognitive skills to brain function?
* Are you an expert at linking cognitive skills to real-life struggles?
The sad answer to these questions is that you are an not an expert in any of
these. You aren't even competent in any of them. [Dr. Jodi Jedlicka --
franchisee in Wisconsin -- might be able to say she has some of these
qualifications.]
With few exceptions, franchisees are pretenders. They are told to speak with
confidence in areas where they lack even basic training, knowledge, and skills.
They are told to be the 'brain expert in their community.'