Federal Audit Finds NCLB Tutoring Lacks Accountability

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

AUDIT: U.S. TUTORING IS POORLY ENFORCED

Bloomberg News -- August 5, 2006
by Paul Basken

Washington -- Failing US schools required by federal law to provide 
students with extra tutoring are not making sure the teaching is 
effective or in line with existing programs, congressional auditors 
reported.

Companies providing tutoring ``did not have any contact with teachers" 
in about 40 percent of districts surveyed, the Government Accountability 
Office said. Also, no states provide ``a conclusive assessment" of the 
value of the tutoring, the GAO said.

The report is the latest in a series by the GAO and others questioning 
the Bush administration's premise, as set out in the ``No Child Left 
Behind" law of 2002, that schools failing to meet federal standards will 
be improved by the mandated use of outside tutors.

``Students urgently need these services, and we can't tolerate 
fly-by-night tutoring that falls short of the meaningful help they need 
to succeed," Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said 
in response to the GAO report.

The ``No Child Left Behind" law is due for reauthorization by Congress 
next year, and leaders of both parties said they would need to fix 
problems with the tutoring requirement.

The law requires annual testing of students in subjects such as math and 
reading. School districts that fail to meet testing standards for two 
consecutive years must let students transfer to a different school in 
the district, then pay for tutoring in the third year. The law also ties 
compliance to the distribution of about $13 billion in annual federal 
school aid.

The law requires failing schools to hire outside tutors, though the Bush 
administration last month agreed to expand an exemption that lets some 
low-performing public schools tutor their students rather than rely on 
private companies or competing schools.

Previous GAO reports noted problems with tutoring that include the 
failure of schools to promptly notify parents of eligible children and 
that some districts, such as in rural areas, are having trouble finding 
and hiring tutors.

The report yesterday said about 70 percent of states face difficulty 
coordinating between tutoring providers and schools.

The GAO also found that 19 percent of students eligible for tutoring in 
the 2004-05 school year received it, up from 12 percent the previous 
year. An estimated 20 percent of school districts required by law to 
offer the tutoring had no students receiving it, the GAO said.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce will investigate why 
such services are underused, said the panel's chairman, Representative 
Buck McKeon, Republican of California.

``More and more evidence has emerged that this feature is not being 
utilized as widely as it should be," McKeon said in a statement.