FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 4, 2006
CONTACT: Steve Forde
Telephone: (202) 225-4527

McKeon Highlights New Report on NCLB,

Reiterates Concerns about Lack of Participation in Supplemental Educational Services

Independent GAO Report Cites Progress Made in Expanding Participation in Services, but Significant Lack of Parental Awareness Continues

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. House Education & the Workforce Committee Chairman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) today cited a new report by the independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) as added proof that increased attention must be given to expanding parental awareness of supplemental educational services during next year’s reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

 

The GAO report showed that supplemental services participation among eligible students increased from 12 to 19 percent from the 2003-04 school year to the 2004-05 school year, with the number of participating students rising from 117,000 in the 2002-03 school year to 430,000 in 2004-05 year.  However, the report noted that some 20 percent of school districts required to offer supplemental services under NCLB had no students receiving such services.

 

“Access to supplemental educational services is vital to the success of No Child Left Behind,” noted McKeon.  “And while the number of students benefiting from these services is increasing, I remain concerned with the low overall rate of participation and an apparent lack of awareness that these important services are, in fact, available to an increasing number of students.”

 

Under NCLB, students attending public schools that do not make adequate yearly progress (AYP) for three consecutive years have the right to take advantage of free supplemental educational services, such as private tutoring.  A U.S. Department of Education report released earlier this year found that many states do not notify those schools which did not achieve AYP in a timely enough manner.  For example, regarding the 2003-04 academic year, only 15 states provided final AYP results to schools by September 2004.  The report also found that despite the fact that NCLB requires parents to be informed of a school’s AYP status prior to the beginning of the next school year, almost half of all school districts notified parents an average of five weeks after school had started.

 

The GAO study, available online here, raises similar concerns.  It concludes that while districts have taken multiple actions to encourage supplemental services participation, about half of the districts researched did not notify parents of their children’s eligibility before the beginning of the current school year, due – in part – to delays in receipt of school improvement results from their state.

 

“Among the most important features of No Child Left Behind is the priority it places on expanding options for parents whose children attend underperforming public schools,” McKeon concluded.  “More and more evidence has emerged that this feature is not being utilized as widely as it should be, and our Committee will take a thorough and serious look into why – and how we can change it – as we work to renew the law next year.”

 

The Education & the Workforce Committee currently is conducting a series of hearings on key aspects of No Child Left Behind.  The hearings are meant to lay the foundation for next year’s congressional reauthorization of NCLB.  McKeon noted the series will continue during the next several months and will include a hearing to focus specifically on supplemental educational services and other parental choice options available under the law.

 

No Child Left Behind represents the first ever bipartisan effort to bring true accountability and flexibility to federal education programs.  It reflects four essential pillars of education reform: accountability, flexibility and local control, funding for what works, and expanded parental options.  Slated to be reauthorized next year, No Child Left Behind is a comprehensive overhaul of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which was enacted in 1965 and is the principal federal law affecting K-12 education.

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