Fw: hickok

["GERALD BRACEY" <gbracey1@verizon.net>]

I sent this to the WP the day that Hickok's oped appears.  No response save acknowledgment that they got it.

JB

----- Original Message ----- 
From: GERALD BRACEY 
To: letters@washpost.com 
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 7:45 AM
Subject: hickok


Eugene W. Hickok's essay on the tutoring available through the No Child Left Behind law omits a few inconvenient truths.  

First, he says that "those providing the service have been certified by the state as qualified to tutor."  In most cases the certification process is a joke.  There are enormous numbers of companies that overwhelm state agencies--states, not districts, certify provideds.  Caifornia has 214 approved providers.  Illinois has 68, and only one staff person to oversee results.    

Second, he is hypocritical.  There is no evidence that the tutoring works. In my paper, No Child Left Behind: Where Does the Money Go? I pointed out while public schools are required to provide "scientifically based evidence" for the effectiveness of any program they wish make part of the school curriculum.  The private companies that provide most of the tutoring get a free ride.  They have no scientifically based evidence for effectiveness because they conducted no honest research, just marketing research (as I said, the certification process is a joke).  

While the law requires "highly qualified teachers" in the schools, it makes no such demands on the tutors.  They can have any level of education.  

Once again, a Bush administration program assumes that as soon as money leaves the public sector for the private sector (up to $2 billion a year for the tutoring), everything will work just fine, no accountability needed.  In fact, I am surprised that the Post accepted Hickok's essay as a legitimate op-ed.  He's just lobbying for more money for his clients.  

The paper mentioned can be obtained free by putting the title into Google.

Sincerely,


Gerald W. Bracey
1797 Duffield Lane
Alexandria, VA 22307
703-317-1716

The writer is a former Director of Research, Evaluation and Testing for the Virginia Department and is a fellow at the Education Policy Studies Laboratory, Arizona State University and at the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, Ypsilanti, Michigan.