Last Thursday, I was in the conference room of the US. Department of Education participating in a special briefing by Secretary Duncan and Assistant Secretary Carmel Martin on waivers to NCLB.  It was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year -- one of the most holy of Jewish holidays.  When it was my turn to ask a question of the Secretary, I was tempted to ask if the Department would have gone ahead with the meeting if it were Good Friday.

Instead, I respectfully asked the Secretary if States that submitted a waiver application in full acceptance of the four reform principles (see previous story) were to include mandatory tutoring for low performing Title I schools, would these applications be acceptable to the USDE.  Secretary Duncan, without hesitation, replied that his Department would grant waivers to any and all States that wanted to use tutoring as an intervention if that is what a State decides and if that State adopts the four principles of reform.
 
What does this mean for the SES community?

It means we have the opportunity to take our case to state education agencies. We need to demonstrate how tutoring must be part of the waiver application as one of the few student-centric tools that has – and will continue to have -- an immediate impact on student achievement.  Everything else the federal government spends on low-performing schools is for the adults in school systems: principal and teacher training, new technology, instructional standards and assessment tools, etc.

Indeed, nothing other than tutoring provides a direct and immediate intervention just for the kids that are trapped in struggling schools.

In making our case, we need to recognize the imperfections of SES, and offer concrete remedies to state and local school administrators.  It is time to find new middle ground with policy-makers that will preserve after school tutoring for low income, academically struggling students.

Here are some preliminary ideas up for consideration when States prepare waiver applications:

1. Allow States and Districts to better target tutoring services to students most in need using a state-organized competitive grant process for LEAs that seek new funds that come with an optional tutoring program;  see attached Summary of Senator John McCain SES bill; or
2. Prioritize the level of set-aside funds of  Title I funds, requiring tutoring in Priority and Focus Schools;
3. Empower LEAs to match high-quality providers with schools most in need while respecting the role of parents to select their preferred service provider;
4. Significantly raise the quality of SES providers and hold them accountable for student achievement through rigorous evaluation; 
5. Equip States and LEAs with the administrative infrastructure to conduct more rigorous provider oversight and monitoring. 

As we share our collective ideas to re-engineer NCLB-funded tutoring with States, the voices of SES families must be expressed. Parents of SES-eligible students need to know that unless they help pressure State officials, their child’s access to free, after-school tutoring may well disappear next school year. Each state, as part of the waiver application process, must conduct community outreach, including consultation with parents. These forums should soon be posted on state agency websites and may include online surveys as a data collection tool. Providers must be vigilant in assisting parents to access these outlets, and to voice their strong support for a continued tutoring program.

So what will be future of SES be? For one thing, I say let’s get rid of the name—it is a toxic brand that has way too much baggage. Let’s call it what it is – free tutoring for students with significant achievement gaps (or “FTFSWSAG”); or maybe just free tutoring.

There will likely be a contraction in the free tutoring market both in terms of the number of students eligible and in the number of providers left to conduct business. Do we really need over 2500 tutoring providers?  Many providers are entrepreneurial organizations and they will figure out a business solution that schools will embrace.

Finally, please know that EIA will continue to be here to help these organizations in a post-SES era, identifying both private-pay and school-funded opportunities.