18th August 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Schools in Texas are questioning the effectiveness of the mandatory private tuition that their students receive. A state law created in 2002 guarantees free private tutoring to those students who fall significantly behind. However, a recent report on the Houston Chronicle’s website suggests that the free tuition program is not as effective as assumed, and is being abused by the providers of private tutors.
The concern has arisen after a study into the effectiveness of those organisations providing tuition. There are more than 200 entities who have registered with the state of Texas since the program began 8 years ago, and yet not one has ever been removed from the list. The recent study showed that after analysing 8 of the organisations involved, with 7 of them, their tutors created little to no improvement in the students they were teaching.
In Texas alone, the cost to tax payers for the tuition program was $67 million in 2009, and further investigation into the recipients of the funding suggests that some of the providers may be acting unethically. One parent said that a tutor cancelled the first arranged lesson, and didn’t make any contact after that, and yet the provider of the tutor was billing the state for weekly lessons. In the US $700 million dollars was spent last year on private tutoring, with over half a million students receiving help. The worry though is that the providers of tutors are taking advantage of the system, and charging the tax payer for services that are over-priced, or non-existent.