No Child Left Behind Program To Be Obama's Race To The Top Program

Online, March 14, 2011 (Newswire.com) - NCLB provides SES or Supplemental Education Services to children who attend low academically-performing schools. The program concentrates on improving their skills in Math as well as English/Language Arts. SES' goal is to help them meet the state learning standards, which may include guidance, counseling, and study skills they need, to improve their academic performance.

President Obama's Race to the Top Program will take away SES services from small, private establishments like Tutors on Wheels (TOW) and hand them over to the schools.

Jasleen Sabharwal, Director of TOW, a tutoring service that has been providing Supplemental Educational Services since 2006, and who strongly champions the philosophy that a solid education is essential to a child's livelihood, is dismayed at the President's intentions.

She believes that transferring tutoring services to the schools is a definite recipe for disaster. "It's been proven that there is a growing need for tutoring services", she says. Ms. Sabharwal fears that students who depend on TOW and other tutoring establishments may no longer be able to get the essential services that can help them build successful futures.

Serving the K-12 through college market, Tutors on Wheels brings the schooling directly to the students. They learn at home or through "mobile" tutor, a program for which TOW is renowned.

Ms. Sabharwal believes in the program and knows that it works. "I've seen the difference. I feel we make a difference when a failing school graduates to the improvement list." Ms. Sabharwal fervently feels that a solid education is essential to a child's livelihood. She hopes that Congress does not eliminate educational programs but find a way to make them cost-effective.

"We serve children with special needs and language limitations. Their grades improve and so does their self-esteem. Our tutors are also trained to get parents involved in their children's success. It is vital that SES services continue," says Ms. Sabharwal.