Kumon North America, Inc. is on pace for a second consecutive year of substantial growth for new student enrollments and center development in its 40th anniversary year.
Kumon North America, which opened its first U.S. centre in Inglewood, California, in 1983, has been the top education franchise for 22 years running, according to Entrepreneur magazine’s franchise rankings.
Through July, the company had already enrolled more than 105,000 new students, and more are expected. And with more students is the need for more centers. While the company has signed franchise agreements for 78 centers in 2023, more are needed to keep up with the demand.
“What was supposed to be a down year in franchising is turning out to be one of our best years,” said John Collins, Kumon North America’s vice president of center development. “It’s encouraging to see parents investing in their children’s ongoing education. As competition for higher education increases, the lingering impacts of the pandemic become more evident as the education gap widens.”
The release of math and reading scores in the last year from “The Nation’s Report Card” showed significant declines, revealing growing gaps in student learning.
“I think a lot of what is driving this growth is a combination of increased student competition and the continued fallout from the pandemic,” Collins added. “As these test scores are released, parents are realizing the fallout from the pandemic is far from over. There are persistent education gaps that can’t be overcome by the public school system alone. That’s where Kumon can help.”
Kumon’s impact is significant in the private education sector globally. Kumon franchise owners operate more than 26,000 centers in more than 60 countries around the world, including over 1,600 in the U.S. and over 400 in Canada.
The quality is also unmatched. Kumon has topped Entrepreneur Magazine’s tutoring category for 22 consecutive years and ranked 6th overall on the prestigious Franchise 500 ranking for the last three years. Last year it was also named into the magazine’s Hall of Fame listing.
Kumon, which began in 1954 in the home of its founder, Toru Kumon, remains one of the oldest operating franchises in the U.S. Kumon, who was a high school math teacher at the time, developed a worksheet education program for his second-grade son, Takeshi.
