Posted on 02/12/2006 7:15:16 AM PST by summer
Four years after President Bush signed the landmark No Child Left Behind education law, vast numbers of students are not getting the tutoring that the law offers as one of its hallmarks.
In the nation's largest school district, New York City, fewer than half of the 215,000 eligible students sought the free tutoring, according to figures from the city's Department of Education for the school year that ended in June 2005.
In one area of the city, District 19 in eastern Brooklyn, about 3,700 students completed a tutoring program last year, even though more than 13,000 students qualified.
Yet New York's participation rate is better than the national average: across the country, roughly two million public school students were eligible for free tutoring in the school year that ended in 2004, according to the most recent data from the Department of Education, yet only 226,000 — or nearly 12 percent — received help.
City and state education officials and tutoring company executives disagree on the reasons for the low participation and cast blame on each other. But they agree that the numbers show that states and school districts have not smoothed out the difficulties that have plagued the tutoring — known as the supplemental educational services program — from its start as a novel experiment in educational entrepreneurship: largely private tutoring paid for with federal money.
Officials give multiple reasons for the problems: that the program is allotted too little federal money, is poorly advertised to parents, has too much complicated paperwork for signing up, and that it has not fully penetrated the most difficult neighborhoods, where there are high concentrations of poor, failing students....
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
or when he calls the parents to let them know that their child is failing, he can mention the program... or tell them at the parent/teacher conference...
now, why is this okay, but vouchers are not?
Speaking strictly about vouchers, then my answer is correct.
Money that is used for vouchers does not go to NEA members. It goes to private schools and those teachers who teach in them.
Government teachers are not part of any voucher proposal.
Government bureaucrats are not getting any voucher dollars.
Government administrators from the highest to the lowest will receive no voucher money.
Which institution is more efficient? Private schools, or public government run schools staffed by government employees who are union members?
Where would you want your kids to go?
In Florida, we are going to place a voucher petition on the ballot to amend the state constitution. And it will pass.
I am working pt (volunteer) in a small charter school, jr + high, in Los Angeles. In a suburban district. We have a wonderful, great visionary Principal, dress code, on-fire teachers; kids have to sign up to go there and can be kicked out at any time. (Which I believe is one of the great pluses.) Huge number of parent and community volunteers.
There seems to be what I suspect is jealousy in the district at large; there are those on the board who want to support this school. There are many in the Board and up who want to close it because ... what? it makes the existing High Schools look bad, is what I think. They say it would be for financial reasons, but I don't believe it is only that. I think it is because this little school is rocking the boat, challenging the status quo, and there are many Administrators invested in keeping the status quo.
It is a small school; kids come from inside and outside the district. Parents are involved. It is attracting people who really care about education for their kids.
i didn't say your answer was incorrect... i just continued by adding the "if...blah, blah, blah." government teachers, bureaucrats and administrators from the highest to the lowest are not getting the tutoring dollars that are going to private companies... i'm shocked that the greedy NEA is allowing this to be...
where would i want my kids to go for tutoring? which institution is more efficient? if i've given you the impression that i think it's wrong for the fed dollars to go to private companies, mea culpa... personally, i prefer that parents keep all their tax dollars that go to public education and choose where and how to educate their children...
as for me and my house--we homeschool...
"In every school district I know of, I have never seen nor heard anyone mention the "late bus."
I have grandkids in the Albany area. The oldest is 12 and is in middle school. He frequently stays after school for math lab or other extra-curricular activities and rides the late bus home. However, late buses are not available in my own particular area as we are a "walking" school district. I can't speak for all NYS school districts.
Very simply, schools reflect society. If society is healthy, our schools will reflect that and children will learn. Currently, society is ailing. Schools cannot fix what is wrong with society and more importantly, should not be allowed to try, for their ideas (NEA, etc.) are part of the problem - not the solution.
Does your charter school have a website we can visit?
Some families don't value education enough to encourage their kids to take advantage of the opportunities offered to them. There is NOTHING the President or anyone else can do about it.
I offer to tutor my own students for free. I'm tutoring half my class and the students have made quite a bit of progress in reading. BUT my 3 lowest students' parents were afraid of getting their kid labelled so they flatly said they didn't want it. Most of the students I tutor are my middle readers, with a few of them being my higher readers.
You may be right, Claire.( BTW, I am the teacher who posted the reply you mentioned.) And, I am for all students getting as much help as they need.
Amen to that.
I am concerned with my students since I know their weaknesses and what they need.
Exactly. Tutoring is a treat for me and I hope the students.
And, true, some teachers who are not teaching in the first place would not want to then tutor.
Some also have other things in their lives too. I can tutor because I don't have kids and live close to the school. I couldn't tutor when I had to take a 2 hour commute to the school.
How much expense would be involved if a teacher tucked a note into the report cards of students who are not doing well? Or better yet, mailed it to the parents telling them about the program
Not all parents pay attention to those either. Any teacher can tell you that. :)
You haven't seen anything. I taught at an elementary one time with 1500 kids.
I charge $12.50/hour to tutor non-students. It's about half the going rate and since I think I do about half a professional job, that's what I charge:). It's amazing how many people think that even THAT is too much.
Wifey is tutoring under this program, but WILL NOT DO SO NEXT YEAR, because of the nightmare it has become....
Each week a new set of rules comes down, and a new fraud is uncovered. Your Gub'ment at work......
The kids who actually GET the tutoring are doing much better in classes, and scores, but the district is so afraid of being sued over it that they have forbid almost the mere mentioning of the word "Tutor" for fear of a lawsuit....
"In Florida, we are going to place a voucher petition on the ballot to amend the state constitution. And it will pass."
Hey, good idea, I ought to circulate a petition to get guv money so I can have the "choice" to have a child. Maybe I ought to hit up the voucher people here and ask for donations. After all, I'm paying for their children and their personal choices too. They should pay for mine.
Thanks. Maybe the neighbor down the street will have them pay for her abortion.
This is true. It's no coincidence that the decline of our educational standards began in the 60's! But I also think the increasing NEA involvement since then has been a big contributing factor.
But I also think the increasing NEA involvement since then has been a big contributing factor.
There are lots of factors to consider. But often it is convenient nowadays to blame one entity and pass the buck. I do it sometimes. It wasn't my fault that I stubbed my toe last week, it was that dadburn neighbor who put the rock there!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.