Bad Report Card for a Tutoring Business

Business is slow at Kaplan's SCORE! Educational Center in Harlem. Like other SCORE centers across the U.S., it aims to boost grades among the 4-to-14 crowd at prices ranging from $169 for eight hours of computer time to $2,250 for a 45-hour tutoring package. In a recent afterschool session, six students came in over a two-hour period. Chiniqua Barnhill, a nurse, pays $449 a month for her daughter Atyia, 6, to get three hours of computer time a week and an additional two hours with a tutor. Barnhill says she likes the tutor, but Atyia "gets bored with the math, at least the way it's being taught" on the computer. Already stretched financially, Barnhill won't come back once her pre-selected sessions are over.

Kaplan has become a $2 billion powerhouse in the Washington Post Co. (WPO) portfolio by feeding a growing global appetite for education and professional training. But it may have overestimated how much parents will pay to give their kids an edge in school. In 2006, SCORE had 161 locations in 11 states, but this year it's heading into the busy summer season with fewer than 80.