NCLB Tutoring Lacks Accountability

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

STATE EDUCATION OFFICIALS PROMISE MORE PRIVATE TUTORING OVERSIGHT

Associated Press -- January 16, 2007

State Department of Education officials are promising more oversight on 
private tutoring companies that get millions of tax dollars after one 
provider in Stone Mountain was found to be billing for tutoring that 
never took place.

Private tutoring companies have flourished thanks to a requirement in 
the No Child Left Behind Act that demands some public schools with low 
test scores pay for private tutorials.

Those companies earned $7.5 million last school year in contracts to 
help 10,000 Georgia students with their reading, math and English skills.

But there have been many instances of abuse since the program started in 
2002, including six occasions of tutoring services banned from working 
with public schools for reasons that ranged from violating student 
confidentiality to failing to provide adult supervision.

"I knew there was an application process, but I was not aware there was 
not a background check," State Board of Education Chairwoman Wanda Barrs 
said. "I think that's something we need to look at in terms of our 
processes."

Last week, state officials barred the Get Smart Inc. service from 
working with public schools tutoring for three years after investigators 
found some Clayton County middle school students were being paid $5 to 
forge parent signatures for lessons that never took place. A parent 
tipped off school system officials, but by the time the program there 
was ended, Clayton County officials had already paid the company more 
than $18,000.

Sharon D. Brown, Clayton's executive director of federal programs, said 
she was surprised to learn that company officials aren't given criminal 
background checks before they're placed on the state's list of providers.

"I thought ... the process of approving the provider, that it was 
something quite in-depth," she said.

To be on the list, companies must submit a detailed proposal explaining 
their teaching methods and demonstrate proven academic strategies. They 
also have to provide written references and financial information, 
including a business license and proof of insurance.

But company officials are not given a criminal background check or 
interviewed by state officials before being added to the state-approved 
list.

Still, the companies have to undergo some training before they start 
working with children and the employees who have contact with children - 
like tutors - do get background checks, said Clara J. Keith, the state 
department administrator who oversees the tutoring program.

Keith said she has confidence in the state's application process. But 
Get Smart's president, Suzette Daniel, says the state's process for 
vetting companies has been lax, even though she blamed her company's 
barring on one employee she said was acting without her knowledge.

The fallout from the service's problems is affecting hundreds of 
students, because the service had contracts with some of the largest 
school systems in the state - including Gwinnett, Fulton and DeKalb 
counties - that it had to close, leaving students without tutors in the 
middle of the school year.

"It's like: 'Is this really happening?'" said Diane Troutman, whose 
daughter had a Get Smart tutor twice a week at her Lithonia high school.