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Monday, August 9, 2010

Education Week: Texas Schools Paying for Tutors With Mixed Track Record

Education Week: Texas Schools Paying for Tutors With Mixed Track Record

Texas Schools Paying for Tutors With Mixed Track Record

With millions spent, Texas educators question benefits of federal law.

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School districts across Texas are paying tens of millions of taxpayer dollars for private tutoring that has a mixed track record of improving student test scores.
Even districts that want to stop footing the bill to ineffective providers are not allowed. The No Child Left Behind law guarantees free tutoring to low-income students who attend schools that repeatedly miss federal academic targets. Parents get to pick the tutoring provider from a state-approved list that has grown to more than 200 for-profit and nonprofit entities.
Since the law went into effect in 2002, Texas has never removed a provider from its list