Report on Supplemental Education Services

U.S. Civil Rights Commission Releases Report on Supplemental Education Services Under The No Child Left Behind Act

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights announced that it has released "Supplemental Educational Services Under the No Child Left Behind Act," its report on school districts' implementation of supplementary education services (SES) to students under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The NCLB Act, among other things, provides for individual services including additional tutoring in school districts that fail to make adequate yearly progress three years in a row.

Expert witnesses testified that many eligible students were not receiving these services, information consistent with a 2006 GAO report. The Commission's report recommends a number of steps that school districts could take to improve delivery of services, including providing parents of SES-eligible children with timely notification of SES availability, developing individualized strategies that take into account the socioeconomic demographics of student families, and modeling services on the best practices of successful school districts. Most importantly, the Commission recommends that school districts take steps to ensure that parents are free to choose the best SES provider for their children, and not pressured to choose district providers over private ones.