"No Child Left Behind has truly empowered parents with better information and more options, including free tutoring under the supplemental educational services provision of the law."
— Secretary Margaret Spellings

Giving Parents Real Options By Implementing Quality Supplemental Educational Service Programs.

• Supplemental educational services [SES], which include free tutoring and other academic assistance, are an important component of NCLB, providing low-income parents with real options to improve their children's academic performance. This extra help is offered to the neediest students in schools deemed "in need of improvement" for at least two straight years (a designation received after missing adequate yearly progress goals for three straight years). It is a vital element of school reform.
• SES is a new provision under NCLB, and we have learned valuable lessons in its first years of implementation. Setting up a successful SES program requires close coordination and cooperation between a state, its school districts, SES providers, and parents.
• A recent study of nine urban districts found that students receiving SES experienced significant gains in achievement. And there is evidence that effects may be cumulative: students participating for multiple years experienced gains twice as large as those of students participating for one year.
• Unfortunately, despite progress in offering SES to eligible students and families, evidence remains that this provision is not being implemented to its full potential. Too few eligible students are receiving SES. According to reports from states, only about 15 percent of eligible students across the country participated during 2005-06.

Under the Leadership of Secretary Spellings, the U.S. Department of Education Continues to Implement SES Pilot Programs During the 2007-08 School Year.

• To improve the delivery and quality of SES to students, the Department initiated a series of SES pilot programs in a select number of states and school districts across the country and is continuing these programs in 2007-08.
• These pilot programs will fulfill two key priorities: ensuring that more eligible students are receiving SES, and providing more accurate and comprehensive information to the Department on SES programs' effectiveness in improving student academic achievement.
• The Department is gaining valuable knowledge about SES from these pilot programs—information that can be shared with states and districts to improve the quality and delivery of these services.

SES Pilot Programs in Select Urban School Districts.

• The Department is working with the independent Council of the Great City Schools to enter into flexibility agreements with select urban school districts that are committed to providing SES to greater numbers of eligible children.
• The agreements serve to increase student participation in, and strengthen the quality of, SES programs in these districts.
• In the 2005-06 year, Chicago Public Schools and Boston Public Schools were the first urban districts to enter into a flexibility agreement with the Department; in the 2006-07 school year, Anchorage School District and Hillsborough County Public Schools (FL) also joined the pilot. These four districts will continue to participate in 2007-08.
• Pilot districts are eligible to serve as SES providers in exchange for expanding students' ability to access SES providers and collecting achievement data to determine SES program effectiveness. Specifically, these districts have agreed to provide:
  • Early notification to parents of their children's eligibility to participate in SES;
  • Extended enrollment periods so that parents can make the best choice for their child;
  • The use of district facilities by non-district providers for a reasonable fee; and
  • Academic data analyzed by an independent third party to evaluate the effectiveness of SES services.

SES Pilot Programs to Offer SES to Students in Schools in Year One of Improvement.

• In the 2005-06 school year, the Department also entered into a flexibility agreement with the state of Virginia that allowed four districts in the state to offer SES to schools in year one of improvement—one year earlier than the law requires. In 2006-07, similar flexibility agreements were also extended to the states of Alaska, Delaware, Indiana, and North Carolina. In 2006-07, a total of 15 districts participated from these five states.

• For the 2007-08 school year, the states of Alaska, Indiana, North Carolina, and Virginia are continuing to participate in this pilot.

  • In Alaska, two districts are participating: Anchorage School District and Juneau School District

  • In Indiana, three districts are participating: Metropolitan School District of Decatur Township, Monroe County Community School Corporation, and Blackford County Schools.

  • In North Carolina, seven districts are participating: Burke County, Cumberland County, Durham County, Guilford County, Moore County, Northampton County, and Pitt County.

  • In Virginia, seven districts are participating: Fairfax County Public Schools, Fauquier County Public Schools, Greene County Public Schools, Hampton City Public Schools, Henrico County Public Schools, Henry County Public Schools, and Newport News City Public Schools

• As part of their flexibility agreements, the states have committed to increasing the number of eligible students participating in SES, extending enrollment periods, and expanding options for parents.