New Report Questions NCLB Tutoring

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

REPORT QUESTIONS PRIVATE TUTORING
St. Petersburg Times -- Maqrch 15, 2007
by Ron Matus

A year ago, big words scared Tayvahn Jordan. He didn't like reading out 
loud. He didn't like reading in class. His mom said when reading time 
rolled around, he'd hide in a shell.

Now the first-grader at Lakewood Elementary in St. Petersburg reads a 
book a day. And his mom, Tomeca Demps, says private tutoring made all 
the difference.

The tutoring was "marvelous," Demps said Wednesday. "He's not afraid of 
those big words anymore."

Tayvahn's tutoring came free of charge, courtesy of the No Child Left 
Behind Act. The 2002 federal law requires school districts to offer 
private tutoring to any child whose school fails to meet federal 
standards three years in a row. Last year, 585,000 students nationwide - 
and 34,000 in Florida - got free tutoring, at a cost of $400-million.

But is it really helping?

A national report released Wednesday says nobody really knows.

The vast majority of states have not been able to monitor the quality of 
private tutors, concludes the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education 
Policy, an independent advocate for public education. In a survey last 
fall, education officials in most of those states said they either 
didn't have the staff or funding to evaluate tutoring companies, as the 
law requires.

"Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on an unaccountable 
project," said Jack Jennings, the center's president, before testifying 
in Congress on the reauthorization of No Child. "The irony is that 
politicians would not allow public schools to spend hundreds of millions 
of dollars without accountability."

Jennings said the solution is more federal support. The tutoring 
industry agrees.

"The assumption is, there is no data, it must not be working," said 
Steve Drake, a spokesman for the 600-member Education Industry 
Association. "It's in our best self-interest to say, 'Let's get on with 
it.' "

In response, the U.S. Department of Education noted President Bush has 
called for more tutoring - and more money for No Child.

"We know these tutoring services are working," department spokeswoman 
Rebecca Neale said in a written statement, "because we have heard from 
parents and administrators from around the nation who tell us" it is.

Wednesday's report does not offer a state-by-state breakdown, because 
state officials were offered anonymity so they could comment freely. But 
Florida education officials said they do not anticipate problems 
evaluating tutoring providers. They also said a comprehensive evaluation 
of the state's 199 providers will be out within weeks.

The tutoring provision in No Child has been controversial from the 
get-go. Supporters say it forces districts to give struggling students 
extra help - and to give them an educational option often reserved for 
affluent families. But critics say it has spawned a massive tutoring 
market with little proof students are benefiting.

Even supporters are troubled.

"That's one of the deficits in the program," said Martin Rainey, a St. 
Petersburg activist who hammered the Pinellas school district two years 
ago for not better notifying parents about the tutoring option.

The tutors are limited to students in high-poverty schools. Parents 
choose from a list of providers. In Pinellas, students in 33 schools 
were eligible this year, and 3,200 signed up.

Demps signed her son up with the Pinellas Classroom Teachers 
Association, the local teachers union. Its tutoring regimen offered 
instruction in small groups and a focus on reading basics.

Union chief Jade Moore said the union's tutors are certified teachers 
who take specialized training in working with struggling students. "If 
anyone's going to be effective, it's going to be us," he said.

    http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/15/State/Report_questions_priv.shtml

The CEP report and related materials are online at 
http://www.cep-dc.org/nclb/sises/