Elite Educational Institute - Elite Educational Institute

Elite Educational Institute (also known as Elite Prep) is a for-profit, American-based test preparation and admissions consulting company. Elite Educational Institute provides advice regarding college admissions and offers private tutoring and test preparation courses for standardized tests such as the PSAT, SAT, ACT, and Advanced Placement exams. The company is best known for its eight-week SAT “summer boot camp.”

History

Elite Educational Institute was founded by Korean-American writer and entrepreneur Jonghwan Patrick Park in 1987. Its original location was a storefront in the Koreatown District of Rowland Heights, California. Elite Educational Institute has since opened branch offices in Northern California, Southern California, Texas in the United States, British Columbia and Ontario, Canada; Seoul, South Korea; Istanbul, Turkey; and Shanghai, China. As of January 2015, Elite has 46 branches in 5 countries.

Timeline

1987 â€" Jonghwan Patrick Park establishes Elite Educational Institute in Rowland Heights, California
1989 â€" Elite Educational Institute Research and Development Center is established
1991 â€" Los Angeles, CA branch opens
1992 â€" Arcadia, CA and Buena Park, CA branches open
1993 â€" Elite launches “1400 Guaranteed SAT Program” (guarantee would later be withdrawn)
1996 â€" Irvine, CA branch opens
1997 â€" Summer SAT Camp at Seoul Foreign School opened; Elite Korea established
2000 â€" Yeon Hee, South Korea branch opens
2001 â€" Elite SAT Prep program opens at Ohr Haemet Institute for Girls in Los Angeles, CA; branches open in Mok Dong, South Korea and Bun Dang, South Korea
2002 â€" Northridge, CA branch opens
2003 â€" Elite SAT Program opens at La Cañada High School; Vancouver, BC branch opens; Elite Canada established
2004 â€" Coquitlam, BC branch opens
2005 â€" Branches open in Fullerton, CA, Cupertino, CA and San Francisco, CA; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Bangkok, Thailand
2006 â€" Branches open in Richmond, BC and San Diego, CA
2007 â€" Branches open in Valencia, CA, Torrance, CA, and Fremont, CA; and North Shore, BC
2008 â€" Elite headquarters moves from Rowland Heights, CA to Irvine, CA; branches open in Surrey, BC; Seo Cho, South Korea and Jam Sil, South Korea; and Northwood, CA, Rancho Bernardo, CA and San Ramon, CA
2009 â€" Branches open in Richmond Hill, ON; Victoria, BC; and Istanbul, Turkey
2012 â€" Branch opens in Shanghai, China in conjunction with Shanghai International Studies University. 2013 â€" Two additional branches open in the Xuhui and Yangpu districts of Shanghai, China
2014 â€" Branches open in Burnaby, BC; North York, ON; Plano, TX; Laguna Hills, CA; Thousand Oaks, CA
2015 - Branches open in Bellevue, WA and Fairfax, VA.

Test-Prep Company Score Claim Controversy

In May 2009, The Wall Street Journal featured a report questioning the legitimacy of various test-prep company claims regarding student score increases. Elite Educational Institute CFO Kevin Sung was contacted by the paper, commenting that "any test-prep company that gives you their own test with their own score scale could be accused of fudging the numbers to make students think they improved more than they really had." Elite Educational Institute subsequently removed the “Average Score Improvement of 240 Points” claim from their web site.

Former students of Elite Educational Institute who achieved perfect scores on their SAT Reasoning Tests and were subsequently profiled in the Orange County Register commented that “Elite’s practice tests are designed to be harder than the real exam” and that “the real test . . . was easier than the practice ones.”

The value of Elite's summer boot camp was the subject of a report by Southern California public radio station KPCC.

References