Some states report tutoring ineffective in raising student performance
A recent Washington Post story reports that the free tutoring services that struggling schools are required to provide to students under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) have had little or no positive effect on student test scores in Virginia, Maryland, and several other states, according to early evaluations. During the 2006-07 school year, $595 million went to the fast-growing industry of for-profit and nonprofit tutoring providers. But it remains unclear whether or how much those extra lessons are boosting student performance, even though the law envisions them as a key way to narrow achievement gaps. In Virginia, researchers compared the performance last year of students with identical or very similar math scores in 2006 and found that those who were tutored did no better than their peers, according to an analysis the state Department of Education released in April. In a similar comparison of reading scores, students who were tutored lagged behind those who weren't. Studies in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, and Kentucky also showed that the mandated tutoring, known as "supplemental educational services" (SES), didn't bump up test scores.
"This isn't helping poor kids," said Jack Jennings, president and chief executive of the Center on Education Policy, which monitors implementation of the federal law. "All it's doing is taking money out of classrooms and putting it into the hands of private companies." Jennings said that states don't have the capacity to monitor tutors effectively and that too many lessons aren't designed to build on the skills students learn in school. Steven M. Ross, executive director of the Center for Research in Educational Policy at the University of Minnesota, which is conducting evaluations in Virginia, Maryland and several other states, said parents and educators generally give tutors good ratings. Ross cautioned that the assessments involve a relatively small sample of students. He said that tutoring might be helping them learn but that the help might not immediately translate into higher test scores. Some students who have fallen far behind, he said, could make progress but still fail grade-level tests. Or students might need more time with tutors.
Doug Mesecar, an assistant deputy secretary of education, said that officials remain confident of the value of the tutoring program but that more needs to be done to ensure quality. Education Department officials point to a Rand Corp. study last year that found tutoring programs improved reading and math performance significantly in several large urban school systems. States have been slow to develop systems to gauge the effectiveness of companies and nonprofit organizations that work with students. Many schools report poor student attendance at tutoring sessions. Some school officials say that even with those challenges, tutoring is making a difference. Chicago public schools found that students who were tutored outperformed peers in reading and math. Tutoring in Hawaii and Colorado has been linked to gains in math.
Source: Washington Post, 6/13/08, By Maria Glod
[Editor’s Note: The Virginia analysis and the RAND Corporation study are below. For more information on SES resources, controversies, and proposals, see the last link.]
Virginia analysis
RAND study on SES
NSBA School Law pages on SES