More Resources Fact Sheet SES Flexibility Agreements

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Ray Simon today announced the extension and expansion of two pilot programs designed to help struggling K-12 students. The two pilots, which were initiated by the Department of Education last year, are focused on increasing student participation in the tutoring or supplemental educational services (SES) provisions offered under the No Child Left Behind Act. One pilot will allow four districts in need of improvement to be providers of tutoring, and the second pilot will allow several districts within five states to offer tutoring ahead of schedule to students in schools in year one of school improvement status. The Department may offer this flexibility in cases in which benefits to students and student achievement are seen.

"Success in the first year of these pilot programs has allowed us to expand them to more cities and states," Simon said. "These pilot programs will fulfill two key priorities: ensuring that more eligible students are receiving free tutoring and providing more accurate, comprehensive information to the Department on the effectiveness of tutoring in improving student academic achievement."

Supplemental educational services are an important component of No Child Left Behind, giving low-income parents real options to obtain free tutoring and after-school services for their children. Unfortunately, not enough students who qualify for this help are receiving it; only about 10 to 20 percent of eligible students across the country participated in free tutoring during the 2003-04 school year.

Through a partnership with the Council of the Great City Schools, the Department offered this flexibility to the Chicago and Boston public school systems as part of the "district in need of improvement" pilot for the 2005-06 school year. With the continued cooperation of the Council, both will remain in the pilot for the 2006-07 school year, as will two new urban districts: the Memphis City Schools and the Anchorage School District. All four will enter into a "flexibility agreement" with the Department.

In 2005-06, as part of the second pilot program, the Department granted Virginia the flexibility to enable four districts to offer tutoring for students in schools in year one of improvement status. These four Virginia districts will continue in the pilot. For the 2006-07 school year, the Department also will allow several districts in Alaska, Delaware, Indiana and North Carolina to offer SES to students in schools in year one of improvement.

Through these pilots, the Department of Education hopes to gain valuable information that can be shared with other states and districts to improve the quality and delivery of this free tutoring. These pilots will ensure that more eligible students receive SES and that better information is provided on the program's effectiveness in improving academic achievement. A fact sheet on the pilot programs can be found at: http://www.ed.gov/nclb/choice/help/sespilot.html. Letters to school districts and states regarding SES flexibility agreements can be found at http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/stateletters/index.html#ses.

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