Supplemental Educational Services – Overview by MyAmericanChild

Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) every school receives a rating each year based primarily on the percentage of its students that achieved proficiency in reading and mathematics. Schools that reach the target percentage are said to have met or made AYP – Adequate Yearly Progress. NCLB has set the ambitious goal that all students at all schools will be learning to read and write at their grade level at the end of the 2013-2014 school year. At that time 100% of the students must achieve basic proficiency in order for the school to make AYP. In the years before then, the states may set lower (but ever rising) thresholds for meeting AYP. For the 2005-2006 school year, most states set the bar for their schools to meet AYP at between 40% and 60% of the students learning to read and write at their grade level. All low-income students who attend a Title I school that has not made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for three consecutive years or more, must be offered tutoring or other remedial assistance. This parental choice option under NCLB is called Supplemental Educational Services (SES). A low-income student is one who has been identified by the school district as eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches under the National School Lunch Program. The tutoring for eligible students must take place outside of regular school hours – after school, on the weekends or during the summer. The providers must apply to and be approved by the State Education Agency (SEA). They may be public or private, non-profit or for-profit entities. Thus other public or private schools, universities, faith-based organizations, private businesses, and the school districts themselves (in some circumstances) may be approved providers. All students (not just the low-income students) attending schools that did not make AYP for a third or more consecutive year remain eligible for Public School Choice (PSC). They may transfer to different public schools, other than those that have failed to make AYP for two consecutive years or more. The school districts must notify all parents who are eligible for SES. They must also provide the SES parents with a list of the state approved providers from which they can obtain tutoring for their child at no expense to the family. During the 2004-2005 school year (the latest figures we have) only 17% of the eligible families availed themselves of the free tutoring for their children. We do not accept that this low percentage is a measure of parental indifference. That some parents might pass up this opportunity is understandable; that 8 out of 10 would pass up free tutoring for their children is not. We believe that many parents are not learning, not understanding, or not being encouraged to take this important opportunity that NCLB meant them to have. MyAmericanChild is here to correct that. There are many important details regarding SES which are explained in the information links that we have selected with parents in mind. It is essential to read them to fully understand SES.