"From its pro bono tutoring and scholarship funding for needy students to its partnerships with organizations such as Prep For Prep and Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America, Advantage Testing's commitment to excellence and social responsibility truly represents the very best our great City has to offer."
-Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Since its inception in 1986, Advantage Testing has provided educational opportunities to those who may not otherwise have been able to afford them. Our initiatives include:
- Pro bono tutoring
- Active financial aid
- Partnerships with public service organizations
- Scholarship funding
Along with our ongoing efforts, we are continually developing new programs to improve access to our services. We welcome any ideas from within and beyond our group that will help make Advantage Testing accessible to families of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.
Pro Bono and Financial Assistance Programs
Our financial aid programs have enabled us to work with countless deserving students who might not otherwise have received tutoring in high school. The benefits of their hard work can spur these students to greater academic achievements, often at the most competitive institutions of higher education and throughout their professional careers.
- Our tutors volunteer to work with motivated students one-on-one on a pro bono basis.
- We offer tuition grants to families who qualify for financial assistance.
- We provide group instruction free of charge for those who qualify; we encourage our tutors to participate by compensating them at rates higher than their normal rates of compensation.
- For local public high school students, we have conducted free lectures on the SAT and the college admissions process.
- To encourage our financial aid programs nationally, Advantage Testing New York, our company headquarters, doubles the dollar amount of financial aid grants given to families by every Advantage Testing location.
- We donate free tutoring programs to charity benefits and school scholarship funds.
Partnerships with Public Service Organizations
BELL
BELL is a nonprofit organization that administers innovative educational programs to over 8,000 underserved students throughout Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C. Through after-school and summer programs, Building Educated Leaders for Life cultivates the intellectual and personal development of elementary school students in low-income urban areas. The Advantage Testing Foundation has provided financial support to sustain BELL's programs and services.
Princeton University Preparatory Program
Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP) is a Princeton-based organization that offers on-campus opportunities for academic and cultural enrichment to high-achieving, low-income students from Ewing, Princeton, and Trenton public high schools.
- We have endowed the Advantage Testing Princeton University Academic Enrichment Fund in support of PUPP students.
Scholarship Funding
Emergency Medicine Initiatives
Advantage Testing has actively contributed to Emergency Medicine (EM) in Asia by establishing a series of research grants and awards for the use and development of Indigenous resources to care for acutely ill patients.
- Since 2002, we have supported young physician-researchers at the annual International EM conferences held in India.
- Some of the research projects supported by Advantage Testing have led to new ideas and procedures that have been adopted in many Asian countries and are now promoted by the American College of Emergency Physicians.
VASF
In 2004, Arun Alagappan and his siblings established the million-dollar Visalakshi Alagappan Scholarship Fund (VASF) in honor of their mother.
- The VASF benefits needy scholarship students in the United States and in India. The mission of VASF is to help students of modest socioeconomic backgrounds advance their education.
Past Initiatives
In addition to our current efforts, we have also contributed our services and/or offered our financial support to:
Young Women's Leadership School
Since 1996, the Young Women's Leadership School in Harlem has been considered a landmark school. One of the few all-girls public schools in the nation, it is known for its outstanding college acceptance rate every year.
- We have conducted SAT and SAT Subject Test instruction for students selected by the college counselor.
Bronx International High School
The Bronx International High School provides recent immigrant students with an intensive language development curriculum.
- We have taught pro bono students who score at or below the 20th percentile on the Language Assessment Battery and have been in the U.S. for fewer than four years.
- One of our senior tutors, Swati Khurana, received a New Visions Teachers Award for her work at Bronx International High School.
School for Human Rights
The School for Human Rights opened in September 2004 in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. This school for middle and high school students emphasizes human rights in both its curriculum and its community.
- Our Associate Director Michelle Chasin, conducted a training session with teachers from the school to introduce the new SAT and potential ways to integrate relevant subject matter into their curricula.
Creative Arts Workshop
The Creative Arts Workshops for Kids (CAW), long the largest volunteer organization for unhoused children in New York City, used the visual and performing arts to engage unhoused, formerly unhoused, and at-risk children in a comprehensive supportive and developmental program.
- We provided pro bono individual SAT tutoring for several of CAWs teens.
National Adolescent Sexuality Program
The National Adolescent Sexuality Program of the Children's Aid Society, run by the highly regarded Dr. Michael Carrera, administers and supports teen pregnancy prevention programs at community centers across the country.
- Over several years, Advantage Testing tutors provided instruction to 35 participants from five different sites in the New York City area. Most participants completed 24 weeks of instruction. The average score increase for this group was significant, allowing many to consider a wider range of college options.
International High School at Prospect Heights
Emphasizing language development through project-based learning, the International High School at Prospect Heights teaches newcomers to the United States.
- One of our senior tutors, Swati Khurana, has served on the school's planning committee, addressing the incorporation of art into an interdisciplinary curriculum and developing college and standardized test preparation benchmarks.