No Child Left Behind waivers are causing the private tutoring industry to implode
The private tutoring industry exploded in the United States under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. But as states lined up for federal waivers that ease some of the law’s requirements, that boom has turned into a bust.
Education Week newsmagazine reported this week that the number of private tutoring businesses dropped by about 50 percent over the past several years as 40 states and the District of Columbia have been granted NCLB waivers from the U.S. Department of Education.
The waivers allow schools serving high populations of needy students to skirt the law’s mandate that they use 20 percent of their federal Title I funds for after-school tutoring and transportation for school choice, the story said. With federal dollars increasingly going toward other purposes, for-profit tutoring providers have had to find new revenues or close down.
Troubled industry
Education Week’s analysis showed that among states that have received NCLB waivers, very few included supplemental education — after-school tutoring — in their waiver plans. Across the nation, states have found it difficult to provide adequate oversight to for-profit tutoring companies, the story said.
“Low participation rates, questions regarding the