No School Choice, Private Tutors, under MA Waiver of No Child Left Behind Act

When Massachusetts obtained a this year, it freed local districts from some of the federal requirements.

Starting this school year, the Milford public schools will no longer offer student transfers from schools that are not performing well enough to meet the standard of "adequate yearly progress." In addition, students at these schools will no longer be eligible for private tutors, paid for with federal dollars.

The money, instead, will allow the Milford schools to increase its own tutoring efforts, Superintendent Robert Tremblay said, in an email sent Tuesday to parents.

that had to offer parents an option of a transfer: Brookside Elementary School, based on the test scores of students from the school who were promoted to Woodland Elementary School.

Woodland Elementary failed to meet the AYP standard in 2010, and for the overall student population among tested grades. The school in 2011.

Once informed of the option to transfer, only six Brookside parents indicated they wanted to shift their children to Memorial Elementary, the only K-2 alternative in Milford. The school system's notification to parents came after the school year had begun. After meeting with the parents individually, Tremblay said all of the families changed their minds.

As for the afterschool tutoring, which was handled by independent tutoring companies, under the federal act, only one family at Brookside took advantage, Tremblay said. Most students took part instead in school-sponsored afterschool tutoring.

In his email to parents, Tremblay said federal funds will continue to be used to offer intervention services, including through school-based programs at Woodland Elementary, Woodland Achieves, and at Stacy Middle School, Stacy Succeeds. The federal money will also be used to hire additional tutors for elementary schools and after-school help will be made available to students at Middle School East.