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FEW STUDENTS SEEK FREE TUTORING OR TRANSFERS FROM FAILING SCHOOLS
New York Times -- April 6, 2006
by Susan Saulny
Only a small fraction of public school students who were eligible last
year for free tutoring or for transfers out of failing schools under
federal law received those options, the Department of Education reported
yesterday. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings threatened to withhold
federal money from states that did not make students aware of their choices.
The department, in a wide-ranging assessment of student achievement
under President Bush's signature education law, No Child Left Behind,
found that only 17 percent of eligible students signed up for free
tutoring in the last school year. And of the four million students who
could have transferred out of struggling schools, only 38,000 — fewer
than 1 percent — did. That was a step up from the year before but far
from what was envisioned under the law.
Ms. Spellings pointed to the disappointing results yesterday as she
toured a Christian school in Queens, where she lent support to Gov
George E. Pataki's bid to lift a state-imposed cap on the number of
charter schools, which are run privately but receive public funds.
She also put her support behind Mr. Pataki's proposal — rejected by the
Legislature — to provide a tax credit for children who live in failing
school districts that could be used on tutoring, after-school programs
and tuition at parochial and other private schools. Supporters of the
tax credit hope to revive the proposal.
In a speech that made references to Biblical themes, Ms. Spellings spoke
of a "day of reckoning" for states and school districts. She delivered
her remarks in a church basement, framed by a backdrop that said, "More
Choices for Parents."
"More than half of school districts didn't even tell parents that their
children were eligible for these options until after the school year had
already started," she said, referring to transfers. "That delay makes it
virtually impossible for students to transfer schools without disrupting
their education. And that's unacceptable."
She continued: "We want to ensure that districts are living up to their
responsibilities to notify parents about their options in a timely and
easy to understand way. And there are a number of steps we can take to
enforce these provisions, including withholding federal funds." She did
not elaborate beyond saying she had instructed a high-level education
official to monitor the states.
The No Child Left Behind law requires consistently failing schools that
serve mostly poor children to offer their students a choice if they want
it: a new school or tutoring from private companies or other groups,
paid for with federal money.
While Ms. Spellings highlighted a lack of parental notification about
the options, critics of the programs, including parents and some
academics, say another reason children do not transfer out of failing
schools is that they do not have many options other than similarly
failing schools.
As for tutoring, some critics say, the quality of the programs varies so
wildly that some parents feel the free classes — which cost the
government as much as $1,800 a child — are not worth the time. And many
programs have not penetrated the toughest neighborhoods.
The report released yesterday said that half the states had not yet
established any standards for evaluating the effectiveness of the
private companies and other groups that provide tutoring under the law.
Ms. Spellings praised No Child Left Behind for "shining a spotlight" on
what works and what does not, and said its focus on data-driven decision
making was a sea change in Education Department practice. "And we're
sharing this information with parents," she said. "I like to say, 'In
God we trust, all others bring data.' "
The document the department released yesterday included many stark facts
about how the states were progressing under No Child Left Behind, now
four years old.
For instance, the law set a goal of having all students performing at
their grade levels by 2014 in subjects like reading and math. According
to the report, "based on trend data for 20 states, most would not meet
the goal of 100 percent proficiency by 2013-14 unless the percentage of
students achieving at the proficient level increased at a faster rate."
The report also said that the achievement gap between disadvantaged
students and other students might be narrowing, but that recent changes
were small. And the report said that the high school graduation rate
"has been fairly level" since 1996, with the mean graduation rate at 73
percent.
"The scary part is before No Child Left Behind, we had no idea what we
were getting," Ms. Spellings said. "We could just see the system wasn't
working. Now we know for the first time exactly what we are getting from
our schools."
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