What techniques and services do acting schools provide?

There is the "Meisner technique" and things like the "method" that the Strausburg Institute uses. There are other methods you can get involved with. You will have to audit classes and see if that acting teacher's sensibility appeals to you and how they approach other actors. Different teachers use different approaches. They usually do let you audit the class once or twice so you can get a feel for the class. If you are interested in commercials and not in theatrical performance, you would look into organizations that focus just on commercial training and "on camera" classes. They are usually geared toward commercial training. There are so many everywhere, you have to be careful. They may say they teach commercial training and then they offer a photographer for you for only fifteen hundred dollars and they give you a complete book (and are ripping you off - you don't need to spend that kind of money for pictures). You have to do research. If they promise you everything under the sun you should probably run. If they are promising you too much, they are probably lying to you. If they promise you placement with an agency, placement with a manager, etc. those are the places you might be a little wary of. If they offer an eight week course and say that at the end they have a showcase for fifty dollars and you will get to perform in front of twenty-five agents, I might consider something like that. It isn't a huge investment and you might actually find someone who might be interested in you.