More states permitted to switch order of tutoring and transfer interventions
Under No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) schools failing to make “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) for two years in a row must are placed on a list slated for “school improvement.” The first year schools are on the list, they must offer students transfers to higher performing schools. The second year they are on the list they must also offer to pay for tutoring for students. The Huntsville Times reports that Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia have been notified by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) that their applications for a waiver from the transfer first requirement has been approved, so that eligible schools in those states may offer tutoring first and then transfers after the first year on the “improvement” list. Those states join Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Indiana, which had obtained waivers earlier to replace bus rides with private tutors. This summer, the Alabama Department of Education applied for permission to delay transfers. However, when state school officials released the annual accountability reports this past week, only six schools qualified for the waiver. The small number of eligible schools in Alabama was because the criteria for eligibility are very specific. While all schools are evaluated under NCLB, only schools in poor neighborhoods can be penalized and forced to let students transfer, because ED exercises control through federal Title I dollars, which are given to schools in poorer neighborhoods. In addition, to receive the waiver, the Title I school had to land on the "improvement" list for the first time this month.
Source: Huntsville Times, 8/5/08, By Challen Stephens
[Editor’s Note: The department’s announcement is below. More details on the pilot program allowing this flexibility is at the second link. The previous four states were granted this flexibility as part of ED’s approval of their applications to participate in the Differentiated Accountability pilot program described at the third link. NSBA’s blog, BoardBuzz, questions why this flexibility should be doled out so selectively, citing a 2007 RAND Corporation study, available at the last link, that found that, overall, students taking advantage of the supplemental educational services (SES) option improved their performance in reading and math, while there were no observable achievement gains from transfers to higher-achieving schools.]
ED press release
NSBA School Law pages on pilot program
NSBA School Law pages on Differentiated Accountability Program
BoardBuzz on announcement
RAND Corporation study on SES and choice