Supplementary education in the United States: Policy context, characteristics, and challenges

Abstract

Purpose

This chapter examines the policy context, characteristics, and challenges of supplementary tutoring in the United States, with a specific focus on the supplemental educational services (SES) mandate of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). This government-sponsored tutoring is particularly an interesting case of the United States, where privately funded tutoring is increasingly integrated into a public policy.

Approach

After introducing the details of SES program and examining major forces that influenced the introduction of this program, the chapter provides a summary on the scale of SES with a particular focus on a historical period when this program was most pervasive. It also discusses challenges of this policy and notes some recent policy changes due to NCLB reauthorization. The main sources of data for this study include two major federal reports on SES as well as the empirical studies on the effectiveness of supplementary tutoring in the United States.

Findings

An examination of policy contexts reveals that both federal and market forces contributed to the development of supplementary tutoring in the United States. While the number of tutoring providers and eligible students increased, evaluation studies have found either a small or insignificant effect of publicly funded tutoring. Communications among schools, families, and tutoring providers need to be more effective.

Originality

Although SES of the NCLB have exclusively been examined in the American context in the previous studies, this study suggests that other countries may learn from its policy context, practices, and challenges to reflect on supplementary tutoring in their own school systems.

Citation

Mori, I. (2014), "Supplementary education in the United States: Policy context, characteristics, and challenges", Out of the Shadows: The Global Intensification of Supplementary Education (International Perspectives on Education and Society, Vol. 22), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 191-207. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-3679(2013)0000022009