Investigation Finds Fraud, Waste In NCLB Tutoring Program

In a 2,800-word article, the Minneapolis Star Tribune (6/3, Meitrodt, Burnette, 328K) reports on its investigation into the Federal Supplemental Education Services tutoring program, a $1 billion-per-year program intended to provide free after-school assistance to students at schools deemed "failing" under No Child Left Behind. The paper states that it found the program to be "rife with mismanagement and fraud," noting that "most participating students are failing to achieve the academic gains educators expected a decade ago." The article relates reports of tutoring firms being "predatory or incompetent," noting that at least 21 of them in Minnesota alone are accused of billing the government for tutoring that they could not prove took place. The Star Tribune adds that ED "introduced new rules to improve oversight in 2009, but federal regulators have not checked to see whether states are implementing the measures, acknowledged Michael Yudin, acting assistant secretary of the department's office of elementary and secondary education."