[ OUR OPINION ]
Get tutoring services
to children who need itAN IMPORTANT benefit of the federal No Child Left Behind Act grants students who are doing poorly in public schools a chance to improve through tutoring. Unfortunately, few of them are taking advantage of the free service, a situation that may be due to inadequate communication but also likely is rooted in inattentive parents and guardians. The first can be overcome; the second is problematic.
THE ISSUE
Few of the 30,000 public school students who may be eligible take advantage of free tutoring.
As part of the effort to raise the level of learning for children across the nation, the act offers a range of remedies for students in public schools identified as failing through series of test scores. Although much attention has been focused on measures seen as punitive, such as withholding of federal funds and required reorganization of schools, NCLB also provides for tutoring as well as remedial and summer school classes.
The state Department of Education is notifying parents and guardians of low-income students in 81 public schools that did not meet federal requirements that their children are eligible for tutoring. The letters are written in 12 languages other than English, such as Samoan, Vietnamese and Tagalog, appropriate since many underachieving students come from immigrant families.
However, while the department duly recognizes that an unfamiliar language may be a barrier, the letter, albeit brief, is packed with bureaucratic terminology that may discourage parents from applying for tutoring services. In addition, nowhere does the letter or the accompanying fact sheet state clearly that the services are free, a point that should be emphasized given the low-income target group.
About 30,000 students may be eligible for "supplemental educational services" this year. Last year, when the programs began, about 25,000 were eligible, but fewer than 2,000 took advantage of them. The DOE isn't sure why, but guesses that parents were unaware of the new benefit.
It behooves education officials to make sure that as many students who qualify enroll, even though the federal government has so severely underfunded the programs that Hawaii may be able to serve only about 6,100 children. The DOE should get the message out by ensuring that parents receive the letters; it also should consider a public awareness campaign.
Tutoring not only betters students' grades, it also helps them master learning techniques that will help them in their school careers, if not throughout the course of their lives. As they receive individualized attention to overcome specific difficulties, they also are instilled with confidence they may be lacking because of repeated scholastic failures and heedless parents.
It is no secret that families play a large role in student achievement no matter their income levels. Without encouragement and support, low-achieving children have slimmer odds of success. There's little a school system or government can do about that.
