Kaplan, Inc.
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Kaplan, Inc. is a private education company, a subsidiary of the Washington Post Company, headquartered in New York City, New York.
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[edit] Subdivisions
Kaplan Test Preparation & Admissions is the largest subdivision of Kaplan, and sells preparation materials for standardized tests, in addition to tutoring services. Currently Kaplan offers classes to prepare students for college admissions tests including the SAT and ACT as well as graduate school admission tests such as the LSAT, GMAT, GRE, DAT, and MCAT. Kaplan also offers courses for the NCLEX and USMLE exams as well as English language courses including preparation for the TOEFL exam.
Courses are taught in a uniform, modular manner. A student enrolled in a course can take each lesson anywhere a class is being taught, and classes can also be taken online or by viewing recorded videos. Kaplan courses are typically taught at special Kaplan centers, although they are frequently offered in locations such as high schools, universities, churches, synagogues, and community centers. Students also have the option of taking courses fully online.
Kaplan Professional offers education for licensing, certification, and training purposes. Areas of education include real estate, financial services, architecture, and others.
Kaplan Higher Education is a group of institutions that offer fixed-facility and online certificate and degree programs in fields such as criminal justice, health care, business, information technology and legal studies. The unit includes the fixed-facility colleges that were formerly part of Quest Education as well as online post-secondary and career schools (Kaplan University).
SCORE! Educational Centers provides education services for children in grades kindergarten to tenth grade.
Schweser provides financial education. It specializes in training professionals for the CFA, FRM, and CAIA exams.
[edit] History
Kaplan was founded by Stanley Kaplan, who started the business by tutoring students for the SAT in the basement of his Brooklyn home. He eventually franchised the business around the country. In 1984, Kaplan sold the company to the Washington Post Company, which ended the franchises and centralized control. Kaplan grew dramatically beginning in the 1990s, both by growing its business and by purchasing other test preparation and educational companies, particularly in areas in which the company did not already have business.
[edit] Class action lawsuit
Kaplan Inc. and BarBri Inc. are currently defendants in a pending class action lawsuit. The plaintiffs allege that BarBri violated federal antitrust laws by colluding with Kaplan, Inc. The plaintiffs allege that the two parties agreed that BarBri would not compete in the LSAT business and Kaplan agreed not to compete in the bar review business, thereby protecting their respective markets from competition. Both West Publishing Company (parent of BarBri), and Kaplan, Inc., deny the allegations. A jury trial was originally scheduled for September 12, 2006, but the court has rescheduled the trial date to February 13, 2007. [1]
