December 11, 2011

State publishes ratings of tutors

By Jennifer Smith Richards, originally published in The Columbus Dispatch, 9/28/11

Columbus rated more than half of its contractors  “not effective”

Parents interested in picking a tutor for their children now can see how effective groups have been.

State officials yesterday published effectiveness ratings for the more than 200 tutoring contractors that serve Ohio students through a federally required program. Such a list wasn’t previously made public. The move is a first step in a state effort to overhaul the No Child Left Behind tutoring system. The deadline for Columbus parents to choose a tutor is Friday. In past years, some children have been shut out because there’s more demand for the free help than there is federal money to pay for it. The tutoring, called “supplemental educational services,” is offered to children who attend a school with poor academic performance and a high level of poverty. Tutoring is free to parents and funded through federal grants.

“Although these evaluations have been performed by districts for years, they have not been easy for the public to see. We are changing that today,” state Superintendent Stan Heffner said in a written release. “Those scores show that this program needs dramatic change, and we are committed to making it happen.”

More than half of the tutoring groups that Columbus evaluated were rated “not effective.” Of the more than 200 tutoring contractors on the list:

  • 20 were rated “not effective,” including six that can’t provide tutoring anymore. Federal law mandates that a provider be removed from the program if it has been deemed ineffective for two years.
  • 89 scored as “needs improvement.”
  • 101 were considered “effective.”

To read the full story click here.

Filed under: NCLB

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