U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige offers tips and promising practices for implementing supplemental educational services, including tutoring, in Creating Strong Supplemental Educational Services Programs, a new publication released today by the Department's Office of Innovation and Improvement.

Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), if a school with economically disadvantaged students does not meet its academic achievement targets for two consecutive years, that school is defined as "in need of improvement." At this point, parents must have the option of moving their child to another public school in the same district that has met its achievement targets. After a second year of being in improvement, tutoring services must be offered and provided.

The guide shares practical advice and concrete examples from five school districts that have been successful in creating and expanding supplemental educational services and making them work for students and parents. It also has information on how to avoid some of the pitfalls that school districts may face in addressing the needs of all students, a requirement under NCLB. The guide is the second of six booklets on promising and innovative education practices to be released this year.

"The U.S. Department of Education has a responsibility to identify and spotlight promising practices, trends and innovations wherever we find them, so they can take root all across the country," Secretary Paige said. "We will also continue to work with school districts and community leaders to get information about after-school programs posted wherever people congregate—community centers, libraries, even shopping malls," he added. "An opportunity is like the proverbial tree falling in the forest—if no one hears about it, it's nothing but a missed opportunity."

In the 2002-03 school year, at least 160,000 students took advantage of either supplemental educational services or the school transfer provisions as allowed under No Child Left Behind, the secretary announced. "Given that this was the first year of the law, I am proud to report that 160,000 children who needed help got it," said Paige. "We know that these numbers will increase and hope that districts across America will look at the promising practices in these publications to help get the word out to parents."

The Secretary launched the publication in Toledo, one of five districts profiled in the guide that were selected because their implementation experiences yield some common themes and lessons that might be helpful to other districts. The other districts highlighted in the publication are Forsyth County Schools, Ga.; San Diego City Schools, Calif.; Rochester City School District, N.Y.; and Los Angeles Unified School District, Calif.

In Toledo, for example, the school district leadership was at first skeptical about the value of the supplemental educational services, but they have now embraced the spirit of these provisions as a way to boost student achievement. Toledo also planned early, before they received word from the state that some of its schools would have to offer supplemental services, and involved school-level staff.

Furthermore, the Toledo Public Schools created a parent outreach campaign to target eligible parents. Principals and teachers met with parents to encourage them to enroll, and the district's Title I Education Center provided parents with flyers and applications in English and Spanish during school events. Satisfied parents have begun spreading the word themselves. After the parent outreach campaign, Toledo enrolled 500 students in supplemental educational services, compared to 96 the year before.
The guide provides advice in four basic areas, suggesting the first steps to take and how to "go deeper." The four key actions in providing supplemental educational services are: embracing the spirit of the services, building relationships with service providers, reaching out to inform parents, and setting clear goals and tracking progress.

Among the first steps to take, according to the publication, is for school districts to set a positive tone and put a plan in place, staffing the supplemental services effort strategically within the school district's organizational structure. School districts also need to find out which service providers will serve them and negotiate access to facilities for providers. The districts should also create a fair contract with providers that sets clear expectations, provide for strong communication and coordination between providers and schools, and help states to expand the number and types of service providers.

The publication further calls for supporting schools by preparing them to communicate with parents and helping them to market their programs. It highlights the importance of informing frontline teachers and principals of the district's supplemental educational services because these are the people most likely to receive questions from parents. Finally, to help improve their programs over time, administrators should conduct surveys about parental satisfaction and the reasons they chose the services they did, and replicate successful examples.

"The overall message of this publication is that providing effective supplemental educational services can be done," said Nina Rees, deputy under secretary for Innovation and Improvement. "We're confident that the information in this guide will help school districts across the nation create and maintain successful programs in their communities."

Creating Strong Supplemental Educational Services Programs is available online at http://www.ed.gov/admins/comm/suppsvcs/sesprograms/index.html.

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