Fw: [ccse_core] Firms cash in on mandated school tests

[William Cala <wcala@ROCHESTER.RR.COM>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "satell" <satell@orion.naz.edu>
To: <ccse_core@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 01, 2002 2:37 PM
Subject: [ccse_core] Firms cash in on mandated school tests


Firms cash in on mandated school tests

By David B. Caruso, Associated Press, 12/1/2002

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/335/nation/Firms_cash_in_on_mandated_schoo
l_tests+.shtml

PHILADELPHIA - Companies that provide tutoring and preparation for
standardized tests are scrambling to cash in on what could be a
multibillion-dollar bonanza created by President Bush's No Child Left Behind
Act.

The act, signed in January as the centerpiece of Bush's education policy,
requires public schools to expose students to an unprecedented battery of
assessment tests and to offer tutoring, summer classes, and remedial
instruction to those who fail.

School districts nationwide have turned to the private sector for help
complying with the law, creating a ''supplementary educational services''
industry that barely existed five years ago, executives said.

John Katzman, chief executive of the Princeton Review, said his company's
K-12
division, which runs after-school programs and helps students prepare for
tests, has 2,000 client schools. It didn't have any two years ago. The
division produces about 15 percent of the company's business, and Katzman
expects that to reach 25 percent within three years.

National tutoring companies, like Baltimore-based Sylvan Learning Systems,
report a surge in demand from schools looking for outside help implementing
extended-day programs.

''We serve about 70,000 kids today, and we feel like 70,000 kids is just
scratching the surface,'' said Sylvan executive Jeffrey Cohen. ''We are
talking about millions of kids in this country who have, over years and
years,
slipped far behind in their classes.''

Supporters say the private companies are riding to the rescue of schools
that
don't have the personnel to tutor students.

But Monty Neill, executive director of FairTest, a group that has opposed
increased standardized testing, said the changes have happened too fast,
with
too little scrutiny of whether the new services actually help youngsters
learn.

''These private companies are really like vultures, descending on what they
see as a feast,'' he said. ''We're worried that we are going to be hearing
stories about schools not being able to buy library books because they are
spending money on test prep.''

The law requires schools that don't meet federal achievement standards to
set
aside 5 percent to 20 percent of their federal antipoverty money for
tutoring.

Although school districts are required to offer services to qualified
students
and to pay for them, students are not always required to participate.

In New York City, fewer than 10 percent of the 240,000 students eligible for
the first round of free tutoring signed up. Similar enrollment problems have
been reported in Denver, Baltimore, and Austin, Texas.

In other cities, however, private firms have made instant inroads. In
Philadelphia, 22,000 students were enrolled this year in an after-school
reading program.

This story ran on page A19 of the Boston Globe on 12/1/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
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Related Stories:

Companies eye windfall in education changes
http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20021201/frontpage/18704.shtml

A GREAT PROBLEM FOR THE SCHOOLS
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/63218.htm


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