Restriction is Lifted on Funds for Tutors in Failing Schools
The federal Department of Education lifted a ban yesterday that had prevented New York City from providing federally financed tutoring to students in poor failing schools - a restriction that was in place because the city's schools had been found in need of academic improvement. Under the education law known as No Child Left Behind, financially poor students at schools designated as failing for two years in a row are entitled to free tutoring financed with federal money that the schools receive to serve their needy student populations.
Federal education officials have now begun to give waivers -- called flexibility agreements - to large urban districts that seek them. New York is the third city to receive a waiver, after Chicago and Boston. The agreements allow more students access to tutoring services at a time when only 10 to 20 percent of eligible students are being reached, federal officials said. And the failing districts will receive a high level of scrutiny because they are being included in a new nationwide pilot program meant to gather information on the effectiveness of supplemental services.
Chad d'Entremont, an official of the National Center for the Study of Privatization of Education at the Teachers College of Columbia University, said the waivers were "essentially a practical solution." Districts can usually provide tutoring at a lower cost than private companies, and they typically reach more children because their infrastructure is already in place, he said. And as far as the quality of the tutoring being offered, Mr. d'Entremont said: "We know very little right now about the quality of tutoring provided by the private providers. So there's no indication that they provide higher quality tutoring services."
This article, written by Susan Saulny, appeared in the November 8th, 2005 publication of The New York Times.
Published Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005