II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1570 

To provide for high-quality academic tutoring for low-income students, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011 

Mr. MCCAIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To provide for high-quality academic tutoring for low-income 

students, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tutoring for Students 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT. 

7 Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

8 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amended by add9 ing at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘PART J—ACADEMIC TUTORING FOR LOW2 INCOME STUDENTS 

3 ‘‘SEC. 1951. ACADEMIC TUTORING FOR LOW-INCOME STU4 DENTS. 

5 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE STUDENT.—The term ‘eligible 

7 student’ means a student from a low-income family, 

8 as determined by the local educational agency for 

9 purposes of allocating funds to schools under section 

10 1113(c)(1). 

11 ‘‘(2) HIGH-QUALITY ACADEMIC TUTORING.— 

12 The term ‘high-quality academic tutoring’ means tu13 toring and other supplemental academic enrichment 

14 services that are— 

15 ‘‘(A) in addition to regular classroom in16 struction provided by the local educational 

17 agency, and may be scheduled before, during, or 

18 after the school day and during the summer; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(B) of the highest quality, research-based, 

21 and specifically designed to increase the aca22 demic achievement of eligible students on the 

23 academic assessments required under section 

24 1111(b)(3). 


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1 ‘‘(3) PROVIDER.—The term ‘provider’ means a 

2 nonprofit entity, a for-profit entity, or a local edu3 cational agency that— 

4 ‘‘(A) has a demonstrated record of effec5 tiveness in increasing student academic achieve6 ment; 

7 ‘‘(B) is capable of providing high-quality 

8 academic tutoring that is consistent with the in9 structional program of the local educational 

10 agency and the State challenging academic con11 tent standards and challenging student aca12 demic achievement standards described under 

13 section 1111; and 

14 ‘‘(C) is financially sound. 

15 ‘‘(b) STATE RESERVATIONS.—Each State shall re16 serve 10 percent of the amount the State receives under 

17 subpart 2 of part A, for each fiscal year, to carry out a 

18 system of high-quality academic tutoring to eligible stu19 dents in accordance with this section. 

20 ‘‘(c) USES.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Of the funds reserved 

22 under subsection (b) for any fiscal year, a State edu23 cational agency— 

24 ‘‘(A) may reserve not more than 3 percent 

25 of such amount for administration, evaluation, 


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1 and technical assistance consistent with sub2 section (h); and 

3 ‘‘(B) shall allocate not less than 97 percent 

4 of such amount directly to eligible local edu5 cational agencies meeting the requirements 

6 under subsection (d) as subgrants according to 

7 the formula described in paragraph (2). 

8 ‘‘(2) FORMULA.—From the funds reserved 

9 under subsection (b) and not reserved under para10 graph (1)(A) for a fiscal year, a State educational 

11 agency shall allot to each eligible local educational 

12 agency an amount that bears the same relationship 

13 to such funds as the amount such agency received 

14 under subpart 2 of part A for the preceding fiscal 

15 year bears to the amount all eligible local edu16 cational agencies received under subpart 2 of part A 

17 for the preceding fiscal year. 

18 ‘‘(d) GRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.— 

19 To be eligible to receive a subgrant from a State edu20 cational agency under this section, a local educational 

21 agency, shall, as part of any plan submitted under part 

22 A, submit to the State educational agency an application 

23 that includes, at a minimum, the following information 

24 and assurances: 


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1 ‘‘(1) A description of how the local educational 

2 agency will use not less than 90 percent of the funds 

3 received under subsection (c) to enable eligible stu4 dents to receive high-quality academic tutoring se5 lected by parents from among a list of providers ap6 proved by the State in accordance with subsection 

7 (h). 

8 ‘‘(2) A description of how the local educational 

9 agency will enroll eligible students in high-quality 

10 academic tutoring, giving priority to those students 

11 served by the agency who have the greatest academic 

12 need based primarily upon the performance on State 

13 assessments required under this title, or to those 

14 schools with the highest proportion of such students 

15 relative to other schools served by such agency. 

16 ‘‘(3) A description of how the local educational 

17 agency will provide, at a minimum, annual notice to 

18 parents (in an understandable and uniform format 

19 and, to the extent practicable, in a language the par20 ents can understand) of— 

21 ‘‘(A) the availability of services under this 

22 section; 

23 ‘‘(B) the identity of approved providers of 

24 those services that are within the geographic 

25 area served by the local educational agency or 


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1 whose services are reasonably available in geo2 graphic areas served by neighboring local edu3 cational agencies; and 

4 ‘‘(C) the services, qualifications, and dem5 onstrated effectiveness of each such provider, 

6 which shall include summaries of the evalua7 tions for each provider collected by the State 

8 under subsection (h)(10). 

9 ‘‘(4) An assurance that the local educational 

10 agency will not disclose to the public the identity of 

11 any student who is eligible for, or receiving, high12 quality academic tutoring under this section without 

13 the written permission of the parents of the student. 

14 ‘‘(5) A description of the process the local edu15 cational agency will use to develop agreements with 

16 providers selected by a parent which shall— 

17 ‘‘(A) include a statement of specific 

18 achievement goals for the student, how the stu19 dent’s progress will be measured, and a time20 table for improving achievement that, in the 

21 case of a student with disabilities, is consistent 

22 with the student’s individualized education pro23 gram under section 614(d) of the Individuals 

24 with Disabilities Education Act, which may be 


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1 developed by the provider in consultation with 

2 the parent and the local educational agency; 

3 ‘‘(B) describe how the student’s parents 

4 and the student’s teacher will be regularly in5 formed of the student’s progress; 

6 ‘‘(C) provide for the opportunity for a pro7 vider to address any deficiencies in such goals 

8 and timetables and if necessary after such op9 portunity, termination of such agreement if the 

10 provider is unable to meet such goals and time11 tables; 

12 ‘‘(D) contain provisions with respect to the 

13 making of timely payments to the provider by 

14 the local educational agency; and 

15 ‘‘(E) prohibit the provider from disclosing 

16 to the public the identity of any student eligible 

17 for, or receiving, high-quality academic tutoring 

18 under this section without the written permis19 sion of the parents of such student. 

20 ‘‘(6) An assurance that the local educational 

21 agency will allow providers to use school facilities to 

22 deliver high-quality academic tutoring, either free of 

23 charge or for a reasonable fee, in which case such 

24 fee and terms shall be identical across all groups 

25 that seek access to the school facilities. 


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1 ‘‘(7) A description of how, in cases where it is 

2 not possible to have all providers provide high-qual3 ity academic tutoring in a local educational agency’s 

4 school buildings, the agency will select providers, 

5 taking into consideration input from principals of 

6 schools where providers will operate on-site, in a 

7 manner that is fair, open, and objective and provides 

8 parents with as diverse and large a group of on-site 

9 providers as possible, which may include faith-based 

10 and other community-based providers. 

11 ‘‘(8) An assurance that the local educational 

12 agency will facilitate the State’s responsibility to 

13 monitor and oversee providers. 

14 ‘‘(9) In the case of a rural local educational 

15 agency in which no providers approved by the State 

16 have selected to serve such school district served by 

17 the local educational agency, a description of how 

18 the agency will provide such services or use the 

19 funds for other purposes which meet the needs of 

20 the lowest performing students served by the local 

21 educational agency. 

22 ‘‘(10) In the case of a local educational agency 

23 that is approved by the State as an eligible provider 

24 pursuant to subsection (h), a description of how 

25 such agency will ensure a fair and transparent procVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:30 Sep 21, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1570.IS S1570

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1 ess in the administration of the high-quality aca2 demic tutoring program, including with respect to 

3 parental notification, enrollment of students, school 

4 site access, and other administrative duties described 

5 in this section. 

6 ‘‘(11) An assurance that student achievement 

7 data will be shared between the local educational 

8 agency and providers to ensure better communica9 tion with the local educational agency and school 

10 and to better track student performance in the con11 text of the school the student is attending, con12 sistent with applicable privacy laws, including sec13 tion 444 of the General Education Provisions Act 

14 (commonly known as the ‘Family Educational 

15 Rights and Privacy Act of 1974’). 

16 ‘‘(12) A description of the local educational 

17 agency’s plan to inform eligible students of the avail18 ability of high-quality academic tutoring, which shall 

19 include— 

20 ‘‘(A) posting the common statewide stu21 dent application on the agency’s Web site; 

22 ‘‘(B) conducting enrollment of eligible stu23 dents throughout the year in conjunction with 

24 approved providers and community-based orgaVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:30 Sep 21, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1570.IS S1570

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1 nizations to ensure that eligible students have 

2 full opportunities to participate; and 

3 ‘‘(C) ensuring high-quality academic tutor4 ing services are provided in a timely manner, 

5 including notification to eligible families, enroll6 ing students, and contracting with providers to 

7 ensure that services begin not later than 60 

8 days after the start of the school year. 

9 ‘‘(e) LEA RETURN OF FUNDS TO STATE; REALLOCA10 TION.— 

11 ‘‘(1) RETURN.—Except as provided in para12 graph (2), upon the expiration of the 1-year period 

13 beginning on the date on which a local educational 

14 agency receives its allocation under this section— 

15 ‘‘(A) such agency shall return to the State 

16 educational agency any funds from such alloca17 tion that remain unobligated; and 

18 ‘‘(B) the State educational agency shall re19 allocate any such returned funds to local edu20 cational agencies that have applications ap21 proved by the State for using such funds for ac22 tivities under this section on a timely basis. 

23 ‘‘(2) CARRYOVER.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In any fiscal year, a 

25 local educational agency may retain for obligaVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:30 Sep 21, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1570.IS S1570

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1 tion in the succeeding fiscal year to carry out 

2 activities in accordance with this section— 

3 ‘‘(i) an amount equal to not more 

4 than 5 percent of the allocation it received 

5 under this section for such fiscal year; or 

6 ‘‘(ii) upon a demonstration of good 

7 cause by such agency and approval by the 

8 State educational agency, an amount that 

9 exceeds 5 percent of such allocation. 

10 ‘‘(B) EXCLUSION FROM CALCULATION.— 

11 Amounts carried over by a local educational 

12 agency under this paragraph shall be excluded 

13 from the calculation of the carryover provisions 

14 under this title as described in section 1127. 

15 ‘‘(f) CONSORTIA.—Local educational agencies may 

16 form a consortium for the purpose of submitting an appli17 cation under subsection (d) allowing for such agencies to 

18 develop and implement a uniform process related to paren19 tal notification, enrollment of students, and other adminis20 trative duties described in subsection (d). 

21 ‘‘(g) TIMELY APPROVAL OF APPLICATION.—State 

22 educational agencies shall provide timely notice to local 

23 educational agencies with respect to the approval of appli24 cations under subsection (d), which shall be not less than 

25 120 days before the first day of school, as to ensure the 


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1 ability of local educational agencies with approved applica2 tions to provide services to students not later than 60 days 

3 after the first day of school. 

4 ‘‘(h) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY ACTIVITIES.— 

5 From funds made available under subsection (c)(1)(A), a 

6 State educational agency shall carry out the following ac7 tivities: 

8 ‘‘(1) Assist local educational agencies in the de9 velopment of applications described in subsection (d) 

10 to ensure the greatest participation by agencies as 

11 possible, including with respect to those agencies lo12 cated in rural areas. 

13 ‘‘(2) Determine which local educational agencies 

14 shall apply for grants under this section, which shall 

15 include the lowest performing local educational agen16 cies statewide as measured by academic achievement 

17 measures. 

18 ‘‘(3) Develop a process for the selection of eligi19 ble providers of high-quality academic tutoring 

20 which shall— 

21 ‘‘(A) include the input from local edu22 cational agencies, parents, teachers, and other 

23 interested members of the public; 

24 ‘‘(B) promote participation by the highest 

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1 ticable, that parents have the best available 

2 choices as possible; 

3 ‘‘(C) be based upon a demonstrated record 

4 of effectiveness in increasing the academic pro5 ficiency of students in subjects relevant to 

6 meeting the State challenging academic content 

7 standards and challenging student academic 

8 achievement standards; 

9 ‘‘(D) include in-person presentations of ap10 plications to the State educational agency; 

11 ‘‘(E) require providers to demonstrate— 

12 ‘‘(i) that the provider’s curricula are 

13 aligned to State challenging academic con14 tent standards and challenging student 

15 academic achievement standards; 

16 ‘‘(ii) that the provider has not less 

17 than 5 years of continuous operating expe18 rience providing education instruction to 

19 youth; 

20 ‘‘(iii) that the provider uses instruc21 tional methods and materials that are re22 search-based; 

23 ‘‘(iv) financial stability, which may in24 clude a financial audit, evidence of suffi25 cient working capital, or other means; and 


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1 ‘‘(v) that the provider employs tutors 

2 that meet State-determined qualifications; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(F) subject to the removal process de5 scribed in paragraph (11), approve providers 

6 for not less than 5 years. 

7 ‘‘(4) Maintain an updated list of approved pro8 viders across the State, by school district, from 

9 which parents may select. 

10 ‘‘(5) Ensure that, in the case of a local edu11 cational agency that is approved as an eligible pro12 vider, that the local educational agency provides a 

13 fair and transparent process, as described in sub14 section (d)(10), in the administration of the high15 quality academic tutoring program. 

16 ‘‘(6) Establish a process to accept and resolve 

17 complaints about the activities described in this sec18 tion within 45 days. 

19 ‘‘(7) Provide annual notice to potential pro20 viders of high-quality academic tutoring of the op21 portunity to provide services under this section and 

22 of the applicable procedures for obtaining approval 

23 from the State educational agency to be an approved 

24 provider of those services. 


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1 ‘‘(8) Develop a common statewide student ap2 plication form to be used by local educational agen3 cies that is completed by parents of eligible students 

4 when enrolling in high-quality academic tutoring. 

5 ‘‘(9) Conduct program monitoring of grant re6 cipients’ implementation of high-quality academic tu7 toring to ensure compliance with application require8 ments. 

9 ‘‘(10) Develop and implement a system to 

10 evaluate each approved provider of high-quality aca11 demic tutoring which system— 

12 ‘‘(A) shall be based primarily upon the ex13 tent to which a provider improved student aca14 demic achievement, as measured by student 

15 progress toward meeting challenging State stu16 dent academic achievement standards for all 

17 students enrolled in the high-quality academic 

18 tutoring of the provider under this section— 

19 ‘‘(i) in each subject for which the pro20 vider provides high-quality academic tutor21 ing under this section to such students; 

22 ‘‘(ii) regardless of whether such stu23 dents are in a grade level that is subject to 

24 a State assessment; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) accounting for the length of 

2 each course of high-quality academic tutor3 ing offered by the provider; and 

4 ‘‘(iv) including academic data for all 

5 students in a provider’s program who have 

6 completed that provider’s program; 

7 ‘‘(B) shall be supplemented with additional 

8 criteria, such as— 

9 ‘‘(i) local educational agency evalua10 tions of the high-quality academic tutoring 

11 provided under this section; 

12 ‘‘(ii) student, parent, principal, or 

13 teacher satisfaction with the provider, ex14 cept that, if a State elects to include this 

15 criterion in the State evaluation system, 

16 the satisfaction levels shall be measured by 

17 a survey that uniformly evaluates all such 

18 providers in the State; 

19 ‘‘(iii) the attendance rates of the stu20 dents enrolled in the high-quality academic 

21 tutoring offered by the provider under this 

22 section; and 

23 ‘‘(iv) any additional criteria deter24 mined to be necessary by the State edu25 cational agency; 


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1 ‘‘(C) determines the value added by each 

2 provider in improving the student academic 

3 achievement of participating students, as meas4 ured by an appropriate assessment that is capa5 ble of measuring provider value-added student 

6 growth relative to the targeted intervention pro7 vided; and 

8 ‘‘(D) shall be operational not later than 

9 the last day of the 2012–2013 school year. 

10 ‘‘(11) Establish a fair mechanism for the re11 moval of a provider who— 

12 ‘‘(A) fails, for 2 consecutive years, to con13 tribute to increasing the academic proficiency of 

14 students served under this section based upon 

15 the evaluations required under paragraph (10); 

16 ‘‘(B) is found, after a full and fair inves17 tigation, to have repeatedly violated any re18 quirements of subsection (i) or been subject to 

19 allegations proven true as submitted through 

20 the process required in paragraph (6); or 

21 ‘‘(C) does not serve students in a State for 

22 any 2-year continuous interval. 

23 ‘‘(12) Upon the date of enactment of the Tutor24 ing for Students Act, require existing providers of 

25 supplemental educational services under section 


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1 1116(e) to reapply for approval under the require2 ments of this section. 

3 ‘‘(i) PROVIDERS OF HIGH-QUALITY ACADEMIC TU4 TORING.—In order for a provider to be included on the 

5 State approved provider list under subsection (h), a pro6 vider shall agree to carry out the following: 

7 ‘‘(1) Provide parents of children receiving high8 quality academic tutoring under this section and the 

9 appropriate local educational agency with informa10 tion on the progress of the children in increasing 

11 achievement, in a format and, to the extent prac12 ticable, a language that such parents can under13 stand. 

14 ‘‘(2) Ensure that instruction provided and con15 tent used by the provider— 

16 ‘‘(A) is of the highest quality and con17 sistent with the instruction provided and con18 tent used by the local educational agency and 

19 State; 

20 ‘‘(B) is aligned with State challenging aca21 demic content standards and challenging stu22 dent academic achievement standards; and 

23 ‘‘(C) supports the development of the stu24 dents’ college and career readiness. 


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1 ‘‘(3) Meet all applicable Federal, State, and 

2 local health, safety, and civil rights laws. 

3 ‘‘(4) Ensure that all instruction and content 

4 under this section are secular, neutral, and non-ideo5 logical. 

6 ‘‘(5) Meet the requirements in subsection 

7 (h)(3)(E). 

8 ‘‘(j) AMOUNTS FOR HIGH-QUALITY ACADEMIC TU9 TORING.—The amount that a local educational agency 

10 shall make available for high-quality academic tutoring for 

11 each child receiving those services under this section shall 

12 be— 

13 ‘‘(1) the amount of the agency’s allocation 

14 under subpart 2 of part A, divided by the number 

15 of children from families below the poverty level 

16 counted under section 1124(c)(1)(A); or 

17 ‘‘(2) the amount of all agencies’ allocations 

18 within the State under subpart 2 of part A, divided 

19 by the number of all children within the State from 

20 families below the poverty level counted under sec21 tion 1124(c)(1)(A). 

22 ‘‘(k) SECRETARY RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Secretary 

23 shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) provide rigorous oversight and monitoring 

2 of State and local educational agency implementa3 tion of this section; 

4 ‘‘(2) promptly issue any necessary regulations 

5 and guidance for States and local educational agen6 cies to implement grants for high-quality academic 

7 tutoring; 

8 ‘‘(3) prepare an annual report on expenditures 

9 for high-quality academic tutoring, participation 

10 rates of students, publication of participating local 

11 educational agencies, and other relevant pro12 grammatic information to inform the public of the 

13 activities under this section; 

14 ‘‘(4) develop a complaint and resolution process 

15 to be used by the Secretary in the investigation of 

16 allegations of improper conduct in the implementa17 tion of high-quality academic tutoring programs; and 

18 ‘‘(5) conduct a national evaluation of high-qual19 ity academic tutoring using a randomized sample of 

20 students served across diverse local educational 

21 agencies to document the value-add of such interven22 tions to student academic achievement and docu23 ment best practices used by States, local educational 

24 agencies, and service providers in the provision of 

25 high-quality academic tutoring under this section. 


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1 ‘‘(l) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec2 tion shall be construed to permit the making of any pay3 ment for religious worship or instruction.’’. 

Æ 


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