Articles

Few students take tutoring, transfers under No Child Left Behind

Public Agenda Alert
April 6, 2006

Only 17 percent of students nationwide eligible for free tutoring under the No Child Left Behind law are taking advantage of it, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said this week. And less than 1 percent of all students eligible for school choice actually transferred to another school. Spellings said many school districts aren't telling parents about their options.

While most Americans have heard of the No Child Left Behind Act, nearly seven in 10 say they don't know enough to form an opinion. A double-digit "don't know" response is considered by survey researchers to be a classic warning sign that an issue may not be well understood and public attitudes may not be stable.

Even so, a majority of Americans say the law will improve education. Furthermore, three-quarters of voters say schools will need more money to implement the act and that the federal government should be responsible for providing additional funding. Since very few of the general public has firsthand experience with how the required measures would actually work in the nation's schools, poll results
on this topic should be reported with caution.

Parents' perceptions of their child's education may play a role. Our latest Reality Check survey finds that most parents are confident their own children will be well prepared for college or work when the time comes, even as government and business leaders worry about math and science scores. Substantial majorities of parents believe the schools their children attend are better than the ones they went to. Most also say that the material their children are learning is more challenging and difficult than what they themselves had to learn when they were in school.

On the other hand, there are the nation's school leaders, superintendents and principals, who are largely responsible for implementing NCLB. In our research study, "Rolling Up Their Sleeves," we found majorities of superintendents and principals say the law needs some fine tuning before it can work.

Find out more in our Red Flags on Education:
http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/
red_flags.cfm?issue_type=education#NCLB

Find out more about Reality Check:
http://www.publicagenda.org/specials/
realitycheck06/realitycheck06_main.htm

Download a copy of "Rolling Up Their Sleeves":
http://www.publicagenda.org/research/
research_reports_details.cfm?list=9

Read Spellings' statement:
http://www.ed.gov/news/
pressreleases/2006/04/04052006.html

Copyright 2006 Public Agenda.

About Public Agenda

Public Agenda is a nonpartisan opinion research organization helping Americans explore and understand critical issues since 1975. For more information about Public Agenda, visit http://www.publicagenda.org.

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