Spellings approves limited NCLB waivers

On Sept. 1, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced that Chicago Public Schools will be allowed to provide tutoring even though the district as a whole did not meet its adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals.

In August, Spellings approved a waiver to NCLB to allow four school districts in Virginia to provide tutoring before they provide school choice.

NCLB requires schools that fail to make AYP goals for two years in a row to provide school choice. If they fail to make AYP for a third consecutive year, they must offer tutoring or other supplemental educational services (SES). Choice and SES must be offered to all students in a school, even those who passed the standardized tests.

The tutoring must be provided by outside organizations on an approved list complied by the state education department. School districts, like Chicago, that fail to make AYP are barred from using their teachers or other employees to provide SES.

Under an agreement approved for Chicago, the district will be allowed to continue its after-school tutoring program. In exchange, the district has agreed to give private tutoring organizations access to public school classrooms “at a fair, reasonable price,” and make it easier for parents to enroll their children in tutoring at several points during the school year.

In a speech at Sherwood Elementary School in Chicago Sept. 1, Spellings said: “In return for this flexibility, Chicago will ensure that more families receive services from the provider their parents feel most comfortable with. The district will give parents more opportunities and more choices. Our hope is that increased choices for parents will lead to increased achievement for children.”

“This is a huge deal with national implications,” says the Chicago school district’s chief executive, Arne Duncan. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley called the agreement the “beginning of a new era of cooperation.

Chicago school officials had been embroiled with the federal government for months over this issue. The city has continued to use its own tutors for SES, but had to stop using federal funds for the program. Last December, Duncan called the Administration’s policy on tutoring “ludicrous.”

Chicago can serve many more children through its own program, Duncan says. The district program served 80,000 students at a cost of $400 a year per student, while tutoring by private providers cost about $1,800 per student.

About 278,00 Chicago students are expected to be eligible for SES this year.

Several other urban districts have requested similar flexibility, including Los Angeles. Spellings says the department will evaluate the pilot program in Chicago and possibly approve similar agreements for other districts.

The Virginia Education Department had requested a statewide waiver of the NCLB provision that require schools in need of improvement to offer school choice before they offer SES. But the U.S. Education Department approved the waiver for just four Virginia districts: Alexandria, Henry County, Newport News, and Stafford County.

Virginia officials argued that it makes more sense to offer tutoring before offering choice, which can be disruptive. The better-performing students are more likely to transfer anyway.

NSBA’s proposal for improving NCLB calls for all districts to be allowed to offer SES before they offer choice and use district personnel to provide SES. NSBA believes the department should provide the same flexibility to all districts, rather than approve waivers on a piecemeal basis. For more information on NSBA’s recommendations, see www.nsba.org.