Schools paying for tutors with mixed track record

Ericka Mellon:

School districts across Texas are paying tens of millions of taxpayer dollars for private tutoring that has a mixed track record of improving student test scores.

Even districts that want to stop footing the bill to ineffective providers are not allowed. The No Child Left Behind law guarantees free tutoring to low-income students who attend schools that repeatedly miss federal academic targets. Parents get to pick the tutoring provider from a state-approved list that has grown to more than 200 for-profit and nonprofit entities.

Since the law went into effect in 2002, Texas has never removed a provider from its list despite complaints from school districts and the state's own evaluation that found seven of the eight tutoring companies studied had no significant impact on student achievement.

With the latest federal school ratings released last week, districts are preparing to send letters to parents from about 140 under-performing schools about the tutoring options. At the same time, officials with some of the state's largest urban districts, including Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth, are calling for tougher standards for the tutoring providers.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at August 9, 2010 7:28 PM
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