Show More Children s Left Behind Eugene W. W Hickok Special to The Washington Post Imagine being the parent of ofa a child enrolled in a school that isn't working You cant can't send him to a private school because you cant can't afford it nor norto norto norto to another public school because theres there's no room Every Everyday Everyday Everyday day he comes home from school depressed and disen disen- You do what you can You visit with his teachers You help with his homework But you you arent aren't a teacher And his teachers good people are too busy to focus on your child Slowly he is drifting away Now imagine being told that your child is eligible for free tutoring after school on weekends weekends weekends week week- ends whenever and wherever it is most convenient You are told that the tutoring will focus on reading and math that it will be based on the needs of the child and that those providing providing providing pro pro- viding the service have been certified by the state as qualified qualified qualified fied to tutor You learn that the services will be aimed at making making making mak mak- ing sure your child can read and calculate at his grade level leveland leveland leveland and ensuring that he is prepared prepared prepared pre pre- pared to do well on the states state's school assessment Most important the tutoring will help him be promoted to the next grade ready for success What would be your response Could you possibly say no thank you to such an offer And yet that is what the people in charge of a huge number of Americas America's public schools would have us believe has been the response of parents parents parents par par- around the country to this guarantee of s supplemental e t educational services which is c contained in m U the lc im m Child cHaa Le Left Behind Act ACC Th These s e school administrators claim that of the 14 million children eligible for such tutoring during during during dur dur- ing the past school year only 17 percent had parents parents parents par par- and guardians who found this offer worthy of tance All the rest apparently declined free tutoring for their children That is simply preposterous The No Child Left Behind Act holds out the promise that children attending schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress toward academic proficiency proficiency proficiency pro pro- for all students in reading and math will have access to tutoring services paid for with federal dollars For Forthe Forthe Forthe the first time in more than 40 years of federal education policy policy pol pol- icy dollars are going directly to serve the academic needs of students rather than the schools the students attend The law says schools and school districts are to set aside money equal to 20 percent of their federal Title I funds for these tutoring services It says the schools are to notify parents parents parents par par- of their childrens children's eligibility ity for the services inform them of the names and varieties varieties varieties vari vari- of tutoring services available available available avail avail- able and make it easy for parents parents parents par par- for forthe forthe forthe to enroll their children the services But in far too many places this simply isn't happening Why would only 17 percent of f eligible children be enrolled In Inthis in inthis inthis this program Said US U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings Too many parents never hear about these options because they dont don't see the letter letter letter let let- ter that comes home in their childs child's backpack or they cant can't attend the informational meeting meeting meeting meet meet- ing at the school All of us from the federal government to the states to districts to schools must do a better job of reaching out outto to inform parents parents parents par par- about their options Here is what Spellings did not say In far too many places its it's not the parents' parents fault or an oversight that's to blame It is the people in charge of the schools who in far too many cases think that the money set aside for free tutoring is money that ought to stay with their schools and districts instead that its it's their money to manage as they see fit frt And so they come up with ways tomake tomake to tomake make access to the services difficult for parents They dont don't disobey the law they just dont don't abide by it The tactics can be quite sub sub- tle In some places parental notification comes late in letters letters letters let let- let let- full of legal and policy jargon jargon jargon jar jar- gon and language encouraging families to refrain from signing signing signing sign sign- ing up Perhaps parents are given only a few days to make tl r J a decision n orare or are told tl they will need to beat be at t a certain MI MIa a certain time to enroll their child Maybe they are informed that the services cant can't be delivered at their childs child's school and that they will need to find their own way to get their child to and from the tutoring program Potential providers of tutoring might be told that they cant can't talk to parents parents parents par par- about what they do or to principals or to teachers They might be told they must serve a certain number of kids at a certain certain certain tain rate at a certain place and time Whatever it takes to tomake tomake tomake make it difficult for children to get the free help they deserve and need whatever it takes to keep control of the money Too many children in this country are failing to get the education they need and deserve What a tragedy it would be if years from now we learned that those responsible ble for providing that education education education tion to our children were the very ones responsible sible for their not getting it it |