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Changing Lives |
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Compassion Spotlight
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The Need
Close to one-half of students in America�s major urban school districts do not graduate on time.
Students who drop out or graduate unprepared for higher education and the workforce have often attended chronically low-performing and unsafe schools throughout their school years.
Over their lifetimes, dropouts from the class of 2007 alone will cost our Nation more than $300 billion in lost wages, lost tax revenue, and lost productivity.
A recent national test found that only 22% of 8th graders in large central cities are proficient in math.
The Response
The desperate situation faced by many students in low-performing school districts demands the enlistment of all partners committed to building improved educational outcomes for disadvantaged youth. America�s nonprofit organizations�from faith-based and other private schools to community-based tutoring providers�are vital allies in any such effort.
Alongside aggressive efforts to boost quality and accountability in traditional public schools, the Bush Administration has led a wide range of efforts to expand the work of faith-based and other nonpublic schools and community service groups that offer academic opportunities for disadvantaged youth.
School Choice
To expand options for children in low-performing schools, the Administration supports a continuum of education options for families- magnet schools, online learning, charter schools, private, and home schools. The Office of Innovation and Improvement in the U.S. Department of Education was created in 2002 to lead these efforts in concert with the Faith-Based and Community Initiative. This work includes:
The Charter Schools Program (CSP) is the most prevalent source of start-up funding available to charter schools nationwide. Through this and other sources, the Bush Administration has provided more than $1.6 billion to open new charter schools and help them find facilities since 2001. Charter school development in 38 States and the District of Columbia now benefits from the CSP grant program.
There were 2,000 charters in America when the President took office in 2001. Today there are over 4,000 in 40 States, plus the District of Columbia, which serve 1.2 million children.
The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program is the first Federally funded K-12 scholarship program. It provides low-income families in our Nation�s capital with more options for obtaining a quality education. The Opportunity Scholarship Program offers low-income parents residing in the District of Columbia up to $7,500 for tuition, transportation, and fees for each child, which the parents may use at the private school of their choice. In the 2007-08 school year, approximately 1,900 students participated in the program, attending 54 private schools across the District.
Based on numerous surveys and focus groups, parents of children enrolled in the program are extremely satisfied, and DC residents are supportive of the program. A 2005 Georgetown University study on the first year of the program found participating parents are more involved in their child�s education and that the program has increased communication between parents and their children. The report also showed that children participating in the Opportunity Scholarship Program have demonstrated an improved attitude toward learning and enhanced self-confidence. A recent evaluation by the Institute of Education Sciences found that academic trends are moving in the right direction and parents are satisfied with their children�s education and safety. Read the full 2005 Georgetown Study (PDF � 486 KB)
Pell Grants for Kids was proposed by President Bush in his 2009 Budget. If passed by Congress, this program would provide scholarships for eligible low-income students attending low-performing public schools to pay for tuition, fees, and other education-related expenses at higher-performing out-of-district public schools or nearby private or faith-based schools.
Tutoring for Students in Low-Performing Schools
Supplemental Educational Service (SES) is a key parental choice component of No Child Left Behind. SES is available to all students from low-income families who attend a persistently low-performing school. Families are given the opportunity to select a State-approved tutoring provider who will best meet their child�s academic needs. In the latest school year for which data is available (2005-2006), more than 515,000 children received tutoring through SES providers, some of which are faith-based and community organizations. According to several studies, these services are effective in improving student achievement. A June 2007 RAND Corporation study found:
Participation in SES had a statistically significant, positive effect on students� achievement in reading and math.
There is evidence that effects may be cumulative: students participating for multiple years experienced gains twice as large as those of students participating for one year.
Participation is highest among African-American and Hispanic students. African-American students, Hispanic students, and students with disabilities all experienced positive achievement effects from participating in SES.
Read the full 2007 RAND Corporation Study (PDF-664 KB) 
Ongoing National Leadership
These Initiatives promoting academic opportunity for disadvantaged students have been advanced by two new offices within the U.S. Department of Education�the Office of Innovation and Improvement and the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. The offices have:
Provided training and technical assistance�including 89 regional workshops in 34 States�to help interested FBCOs become approved SES tutoring providers;
Hosted three regional Innovations in Education summits for FBCOs;
Funded pilot initiatives to help grow the number of approved FBCO SES tutoring providers;
Funded pilot initiatives to help school districts and States to improve SES participation rates; and
Sponsored the National White House Summit on Inner City Youth and Faith Based Schools.
The effects of these initiatives extend far beyond the Federal level. The charter school movement is growing, SES options are expanding, and new choice models are developing.
24 State and local programs across 13 States now provide financial assistance in the form of scholarships, tax credits, and/or tax deductions to enable disadvantaged students to attend a private school. There were just seven such programs a decade ago.
