Read Dallas, Garland and San Antonio ISD complaints about tutoring companies
The education agency is still investigating other complaints against those and other tutoring businesses. I’ve posted copies of complaints that Dallas, Garland and San Antonio ISDs sent recently to TEA. Below those, you’ll find Boost Academy’s responses to TEA about getting kicked off the state list.
Several school districts around Texas have complained about the tutoring, also known as supplemental education services, that are required under the federal No Child Left Behind law. New TEA Commissioner Michael Williams recently asked the feds to let Texas get out of the tutoring requirement. Several states have made the same request. In Florida, the tutoring industry has successfully fought back. The tutoring lobby has been active here in Texas, too.
Duncan to Florida: Tutoring Doesn't Work
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said today he doesn't understand why Florida passed a law requiring districts to continue offering free tutoring to students in struggling schools.
Florida is one of 11 states that got a waiver from many of the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. That means districts in the Sunshine State no longer have to put aside 20 percent of their Title I money for tutoring and school choice.
But lawmakers in Florida still think tutoring is a good idea and passed a law requiring districts to set aside 15 percent of their Title I funding for the program. The law takes effect in July.
Duncan doesn't think that was a smart move, and said so at a meeting of the Florida Council of 100, a non-profit organization comprised of business leaders in the state that advises the governor and other policy makers on key issues.
He pointed to a recent U.S. Department of Education study, which examined so-called
SES WHAT A MESS: More on Dallas ISD & the federal tutoring program | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com
More on Dallas ISD & the federal tutoring program | Dallas ISD Blog | dallasnews.com:
Matthew Haag & I wrote Sunday about DISD's frustrations with a tutoring program required under the No Child Left Behind law. Twenty-six DISD schools must offer the tutoring, also called Supplemental Educational Services, to poor kids. DISD said they've found evidence of fraudulent billing by at least two SES providers. Beyond that, district officials say, they see little evidence that the tutoring actually helps, given all the money spent on it. Here's what Patricia Burch, a researcher at the University of Southern California, had to say:
The SES program is a good idea in principle. It is a good idea to use Title I funds to provide more instruction as needed to kids whose families might not be able to afford private tutors. But much of the
SES IS A MESS- #askArne - Fraud, waste hijack tutoring program | StarTribune.com
Fraud, waste hijack tutoring program | StarTribune.com:
FRAUD, WASTE HIJACK TUTORING PROGRAM
- Article by: JEFFREY MEITRODT and DAAREL BURNETTE , Star Tribune
- Updated: June 3, 2012 - 7:18 AM
A decade of problems has failed students, schools and taxpayers.