Press

By Thomas Howell

"Even if bots do some heavy lifting in education, humans will retain a hand in some aspects of teaching," said Thomas Howell, cofounder and CEO of Forum Education.

Featuring Alicia Carpenter

Alicia Carpenter didn't plan on becoming a tutor, let alone an executive at a tutoring firm, but when she realized her passion and skill for helping students excel, along with the chance to shake up the industry, she never looked back.

"You don't always end up where you think you will, and even when you do, it doesn't always turn out the way that you think," Carpenter says. "So if you make the most of each opportunity you're given, you'll probably end up where you need to go. I feel like that's been a real theme in my life and choices."

By Thomas Howell

Alarm bells are tolling for students of all ages and literacy levels, from trends in COVID-19 recovery, to fundamental reading pedagogy, to reading in higher education, to the features of cognition itself. When it comes to discussing the current literacy crisis in the United States, we have a classic reading comprehension problem—an ambiguous reference. Why? Because there isn't just one current literacy crisis, but many overlapping crises.

Featuring Thomas Howell

Against this backdrop, [Forum Co-founder Thomas] Howell suggests the most significant risk AI poses is not displacing teachers but eroding genuine intellectual effort. "The more AI replaces human work," he warns, "the less we learn. AI breaks new ground in automation, which may perpetuate the notion that humans can be eliminated from the learning loop altogether."

Featuring Thomas Howell and Steven Menking

More than 2,000 tutors have applied to work with Forum, and the agency has only accepted 35 since its founding ten years ago—an acceptance rate of less than 2%, lower than the acceptance rate at Harvard and Caltech… [Forum Co-founder Thomas] Howell sees his tutors as a priceless investment. "I am allergic to the notion that you would be that casual about the mentors you put in place with young students," he says.

Featuring Thomas Howell

At the nation’s top schools, including many in the Ivy League, acceptance rates hover near all-time lows.

“College admissions only ever gets more competitive and there’s a lot of stress from families about the stakes and how to get in,” said Thomas Howell, the founder of Forum Education, a New-York based tutoring company.

For some families, getting their child into a top school is an investment, and to that end there is almost no limit to what they will spend on tutors, college counselors and test prep.

Featuring Thomas Howell

"The product of education is not just the acquisition of knowledge, but also the process of learning and the development of critical thinking skills," says Thomas Howell, co-founder and director of New York City-based tutoring network Forum Education.

By Thomas Howell

Technology is a tool, a solution to a problem. The case for AI in the classroom needs to begin with an understanding of technology in the classroom, and an understanding of technology in the classroom needs to begin with an understanding of the problem to be solved.

The positive case for technology, that of access to information, can summon no evidence in its support despite decades of opportunity. The negative case, of shattered attention, is tragically gaining in evidence, not just as an assessment of the minds of our students, but also in negative effects on educational outcomes.

By Thomas Howell

AI attempts to scale education fly in the face of all we know about learning—that learning is social, and that the more human attention, the better the outcomes.

Featuring Alicia Carpenter

Alicia Carpenter, president of New York tutoring and test prep network Forum Education, notes that grades are irreplaceable in college admissions, and early low grades are hard to recover from. "These days, top applicants looking for an edge are almost universally taking time at the end of the summer to preview new content and — just as crucially — build study skills relevant to new frameworks. As a result, these students enter the school year with the confidence and tools to succeed from day one, securing top grades and freeing up mental and emotional bandwidth to manage a rigorous course load and extracurriculars."