Study finds NCLB tutor plan lacking

["Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>]

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=719116

Study finds tutor plan lacking 
Federally funded program doesn't show better results
By DANI McCLAIN
dmcclain@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Feb. 17, 2008
Early reports from a University of Wisconsin-Madison study raise questions about the value of federally funded tutoring sessions for low-performing Milwaukee Public Schools students. 

The study of supplemental educational services, a component of the No Child Left Behind law, is among the most thorough to date, said Carolyn Heinrich, the lead researcher and a professor of public affairs at UW-Madison.

"The preliminary results would suggest that, on average, you don't see much happening there," Heinrich said. "You don't see strong relationships between number of hours (students attend) and results."

In addition, state restrictions imposed last year on incentives such as pizza parties and prizes that tutors use to draw students to the sessions may be driving down attendance. One in six eligible MPS middle and high school students registered for and attended tutoring sessions last school year, down from half in 2003-'04, the study found.

"We interviewed students, and they were pretty honest: 'I'm going for the pizza parties, or the movie passes,' " Heinrich said.

Heinrich and investigators from the Wisconsin Center for Education Research drew a random sample of 320 MPS families - a mix of north side and south side residents - and hosted focus groups in 2006. Researchers also conducted two rounds of surveys with about 1,000 students in MPS schools with the largest tutoring session enrollments, and analyzed 2004 and 2005 state test results.

They released preliminary findings late last year, though they will continue to analyze test data and observe tutoring sessions through June 2008.

Among their findings:

¦ When their scores on state reading and test scores were compared over time, participants fared no better as a group than students who didn't get tutoring.

. Students who were chronically absent from school were less likely to register for and attend the tutoring sessions, as were students who had failed a grade.

. Tutoring programs are most effective when a student attends 40 to 45 hours in an academic year, a little more than an hour per week. But just 15% of middle school and 6% of high school students attended 40 or more hours in 2005-'06.

Under No Child Left Behind, schools that don't make adequate yearly progress on state tests for two or more consecutive years are labeled "schools identified for improvement." Of the 45 such schools identified last year in Wisconsin, 32 are in MPS.

MPS requested the UW-Madison report several years ago in an effort to learn more about the tutoring sessions' effects, district spokeswoman Roseann St. Aubin said.

This school year the district is requiring tutors to administer the same pre- and post-tests to participants. 

"It's going to allow us to get a better grip on who's able to make an impact on academic progress," St. Aubin said.

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Monty Neill, Ed.D.
Executive Director
FairTest
342 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-864-4810 x 101;  fax 617-497-2224
monty@fairtest.org
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