This op-ed by Secretary Spellings appeared in USA Today on June 20, 2007.

Don't give up. That's what we tell our children when they fall behind in school. What kind of message would it send to give up on a program that helps them get back on track?

The program is called Supplemental Educational Services, or SES. Here's how it works: A school must offer low-income students free tutoring and after-school instruction if it has not met its achievement goals for three years running. Many of these schools are in poor neighborhoods and have a poor track record of reform. Students who need extra help should not be held hostage to their school's broken promises.

Today, more than 500,000 children receive tutoring through SES, part of the No Child Left Behind Act. Now we have concrete evidence of the program's success.

A new U.S. Department of Education study found significant improvements in reading and math for African-American and Hispanic students in the districts surveyed. Students who received the tutoring for longer than a year made even greater academic gains. Parents have told me they credited the SES program with helping their child learn to read—proof that a little help goes a long way.

Our only regret is that more students have not benefited. The 450,000 figure is just a fraction of the 2.4 million who qualify. Many parents do not learn their child is eligible for free tutoring until it's too late. In some cases, a letter written in bureaucratic jargon and stuffed in a student's backpack is considered proper notification.

We are working to solve this problem. We've established pilot programs in several states that offer greater flexibility in exchange for greater results; in one district—Anchorage, Alaska—the SES participation rate tripled. We are helping states monitor and evaluate providers to improve the quality of tutoring. Finally, President Bush has proposed offering SES one year earlier and increasing the per-child funding amount for some recipients so they get help when they need it.

Next week, I will host a summit for states, districts, providers and parents to share ways to help more children achieve. They're counting on us to make SES work—not shut it down.

Margaret Spellings is the U.S. Secretary of Education.