By Del Stover
04/05/05 -- As more students nationwide sign up for supplemental education services under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), service providers are finding it takes some work to persuade students to stay with the program.
Attendance varies widely among service providers. Some boast that 90 percent of enrolled students show up for tutoring. Others struggle to keep 50 percent in the program.
Many factors -- such as the quality of instruction or whether tutoring is offered on school grounds -- account for much of the variation in attendance rates, say service providers.
Much also depends, however, on how well service providers take into account that many students in the program have not enjoyed academic success in the past -- and, to various degrees, have become disenchanted with learning.
“Their experience with school hasn’t been a positive one,” says Steven Hodas, executive vice president of Princeton Review, a New York-based tutoring and test preparation firm. “The idea of expecting these kids to gleefully volunteer on their own to spend x number of additional hours in a school-like environment is asking a lot.”
The company is one of several using gift certificates and other incentives to encourage students to show up for tutoring. It’s a practice that has come under increasing scrutiny following reports that some providers are offering more pricey incentives, including CD players and video game systems.
In New York City, Platform Learning CEO Gene Wade says students aren’t responding to the monetary value of these prizes but to the recognition they’re receiving for hard work and sticking with the program.
He might be right. But some state education departments and local school districts are taking a closer look at the practice. Officials for the Los Angeles Unified School District, for example, say they hope to address the issue in future contracts with service providers.
Yet, educators acknowledge the challenges that service providers face. Not only are some students discouraged with learning, the simple daily distractions of life -- sports, friends, after-school jobs, and family obligations -- can tempt students away from tutoring sessions.
The answer to this temptation isn’t in prizes and incentives -- it’s in the quality of the tutoring program itself, say service providers.
Students are much more receptive to tutoring if instruction is engaging, teacher-student ratios are low, and tutors can help students see the connection between academics and future success.
Simply helping students to experience some academic success will do wonders in maintaining attendance levels, Wade says. “It’s a huge part of it. If you’re successful, you’re motivated to keep pushing. They’re staying because they’re learning.”
It also helps to address the logistical obstacles that can confront students and parents, says Lucy Friedman, president of the Afterschool Corp., a New York City-based nonprofit group that funds afterschool programs in cooperation with community organizations.
In her experience, she says, attendance at tutoring programs is stronger when they’re incorporated into a comprehensive after-school program that serves students five days a week.
Not all parents can arrange to transport children from day care to a tutoring site once or twice a week. But by putting the programs together, “it’s so seamless,” she says. “And we’re more likely to get kids to come to a program when it’s not solely a remediation tutoring program.”
The willingness of school officials to allow tutoring to be provided on school grounds affects attendance for similar reasons, service providers say.
Getting school staffs to encourage and motivate students to stick with tutoring also helps, says Matthew Lupsha, vice president of education and school support for Kumon Math and Reading Centers.
“The districts that have been most successful with supplemental education services have gotten the principal and teachers to see that this is an opportunity,” he says. “Principals and teachers need to make a conscious effort to identify those kids who most need the help . . . and encourage the parents of those children to seek [help].