Pros
For parents who can afford the very high cost of this service; some benefit can often be derived from the semi-individualized (generally 1 teacher to 3 students) attention paid to student participants. In my opinion this has more to do with the Grandparent-like attention itself than any instruction provided.
Cons
I am completely aghast that raters would give Sylvan a relatively high score for "culture and values";. This is an organization that is based on a franchise model (i.e. one owner makes all the profits) and pays certified teachers $10-$15/hour to be beck and call instructors with no benefits, job security or even weekly schedule security. How can any educated person see this as acceptable? I hope readers and future raters will consider this in their assessment. Although many Sylvan instructors are retirees, housewives, or students who do not necessarily have to care a lot about income, this inherent unfairness should still not be ignored.