John Katzman is an American educator. He has established a number of companies which assist students with their studies and career choices. He has also authored a number of books on the subject.
Early life
Katzman was born in New York City, and grew up there with brother Richard, and sister, Julie. Katzman went to Birch Wathen, a small independent school, from kindergarten through high school. He attended Princeton University, where he majored in electrical engineering and computer science and then switched to the school of Architecture. He started tutoring in sophomore year to pay his expenses, and continued through college. Katzman graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. in architecture in 1981 after completing a senior thesis titled "The Dead Tree Gives No Shelter."
Career
The Princeton Review Katzman is best known as co-founder of The Princeton Review, which initially taught SAT preparation to high-school students in New York City. He started the company in 1981 shortly after leaving college, then partnered with Adam Robinson to develop it, and served as the company’s CEO until 2007. He authored and coauthored a number of books for the company, including Cracking the SAT, a New York Times bestseller, and created products and services in several media. 2U In 2008, Katzman founded 2U, an educational technology company that partners with leading nonprofit colleges and universities, such as the University of Southern California, Georgetown University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to offer online degree programs. He served as the company’s CEO until January 2012. Katzman originally self-funded, then raised almost $100 million in venture capital over the next four years. Katzman shifted to Executive Chairman in January 2012, and left in August to help build Noodle. Like The Princeton Review, 2U became a Russell 2000 company. Noodle In 2010, Katzman created The Noodle Companies, a studio with multiple subsidiary, Noodle-branded education companies. Noodle.com provides a search tool for parents and students to find information on educational resources. Noodle Partners helps universities bring degree programs online, and now works with over twenty US universities including University of Virginia, Tulane University, New York University, Boston College. Noodle Pros connects students and parents with high-performing tutors. The Noodle Companies and its subsidiaries have raised over $60 million from venture firms and individuals, including Katzman himself.
Despite being the founder of a business based on the preparation of students for a wide range of standardized tests, Katzman is an outspoken critic of the modern preoccupation with standardized testing. He has argued that many tests are no better indicator of achievement in the relevant fields than grades and scores on other tests. He has also been outspoken in his opposition to the Common Core and tests based on it. He demands better outcomes from for-profit education providers. He often speaks on topics related to online education and the measurement of academic achievement. Katzman and his wife pledged $1.5 million to help fund the Katzman/Ernst Chair in Educational Entrepreneurship, Technology and Innovation, an endowed chair in the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education to train and certify teachers for urban schools.
Controversy
Cybersquatting
At Princeton Review, Katzman was one of the first cybersquatters on the Internet. In 1994, he registered Kaplan.com, and then taunted that competitor by encouraging visitors to tell their stories about the company on that page. The case went to arbitration, where he offered to sell the domain for a case of beer; Kaplan declined, and was awarded the domain, leading Katzman to state that "The folks at Kaplan have no imagination, no sense of humor and no beer."
Online and for-profit education
As a founder of both 2U and its major competitor, Noodle Partners, Katzman is often mentioned in articles and discussions surrounding the Online Program Management industry. At 2U, Katzman popularized the revenue-share model in which OPMs take a percentage of a university’s tuition revenue in exchange for program management. This business model is debated among higher education constituents and policymakers but remains popular today. A 2019 published in the Huffington Post names Katzman as the impetus for the development of the entire OPM industry and some of the issues that have since arisen, including revenue-share and runaway digital marketing costs. Katzman, Carey says, is now fighting to change the tuition-splitting practices that he created.
Despite having raised tens of millions of dollars in capital, Katzman's company Noodle Pros applied for and received a forgivable loan from the Paycheck Protection Program, which was designed for small businesses, with a value between $350,000 and $1 million.
Books
Cracking the SAT with Adam Robinson. Villard Books,..
The Best 284 Colleges, with Tom Meltzer and Zach Knower. Current.
Class Action, with Steven Hodas.
Essays
Katzman, John. "A Civil Education Marketplace". .
Lutz, Andy, Katzman, John, and Olsen, Erik, "", The Atlantic.
Personal
Katzman lives in New York and is married to Alicia Ernst. They have two children, Daniel and Lyra.
