Last year, when students at Skyline Vista and Baker elementary schools missed federal math and reading goals for a third consecutive year, officials in the Adams 50 School District did what the law required.

They sent letters to parents in English and Spanish, notifying them that under the federal No Child Left Behind act of 2001, their children were eligible for free tutoring.

Parents, the letters said, could choose from a list of state-approved tutoring companies. The district, the letters said, would spend up to roughly $1,000 and tutoring would be provided by private companies such as Catapult Online or PLATO Learning.

More than 650 families were eligible. A few parents called with questions, but when the sign-up period concluded, “none of our families took us up on that,” said Cynthia Davis, a district coordinator.

Under No Child Left Behind, public school students are required to meet certain reading and math goals each year.

If a school that gets Title I money – federal grants to benefit economically disadvantaged students – misses those goals three years in a row, it must offer supplemental services to low-income students.

Supplemental services are most often tutoring, but could also be summer school programs, and are provided by nonprofit, for-profit or other state-approved companies.

But across the nation – and throughout Colorado – most of the poorest students in low-performing schools aren’t benefiting.

At Thornton Middle School, for example, 556 students were eligible for free tutoring last year, but just two took part. And at Kepner Middle School in Denver, just 28 students out of 1,046 took advantage of supplemental services provided under the law.

An August study by the federal Government Accountability Office found that just 19 percent of eligible students nationwide participated during the 2004-05 school year.

In Colorado, where 72 schools were required to offer supplemental services, just less than 11 percent of the 28,420 students eligible took part last year, according to the Colorado Department of Education.

Participation is so low that state officials plan this month to assemble a group of parents to find out why more families are not using the free tutoring, said Patrick Chapman, a federal programs director for the Colorado Department of Education.

Federal officials worry that some schools aren’t doing enough to inform parents the service is available.

“The primary concern is that while some schools have done a good job of outreach, there are still many” that have not gone beyond sending letters out to parents, said Morgan Brown, an assistant deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Education.

Real-life obstacles

Colorado educators attribute the low response to various reasons, including lack of interest and competition from other after-school programs or real-life obstacles – such as lack of transportation or students needing to care for younger siblings after school.

Others say the notification letters schools send to parents are sometimes confusing or filled with technical jargon.

“Parents very often don’t know what it is they’re receiving and they don’t understand there is an actual deadline,” said Judy Kaufman, director of the Colorado Parent Information & Resource Center in Denver.

Kaufman also said districts have an incentive not to raise participation in tutoring because if the money earmarked for tutoring goes unused, districts can allocate it for other programs for poor students.

Chapman said districts must set aside at least 5 percent of their Title I funds to cover tutoring costs, but must spend at least 15 percent if there is demand.

Patti Paredes, executive director of Title 1 programs for the Adams 12 School District, said the district set aside $136,595 in federal funds for tutoring last year, but only had to use $14,288.

The unused portion covered summer school costs for students who were rated “unsatisfactory” on state tests.

She said doesn’t agree districts are deterring students from taking advantage of tutoring. “I don’t believe … that schools promote or don’t promote” the program, she said.

Dave Crews, assistant superintendent in the Montezuma-Cortez School District, said he sent letters to the families of students at Manaugh and Kemper elementary schools last year, but only in English.

Spanish-speaking families had family members who could translate for them, he said.

Just 20 out of 496 students took part. One reason is that students are already participating in after-school enrichment programs offered by the school, including dance and tutoring.

More than half of schools required to offer tutoring last year were in the Denver Public Schools system.

Nancy Connor, director of Title 1 programs in DPS, agreed that some students don’t go to federally funded tutoring because they already participate in a number of other after-school programs.

“This is not the only game in town,” she said.

Efforts go beyond letters

In schools where participation was higher, it appears administrators went beyond sending a letter.

Wheat Ridge Middle School in Jefferson County had one of the highest participation rates in the state last year – one in four eligible students took part – despite operating its own after-school session where students could get tutoring.

Literacy coach Diane Wilson personally called parents and asked them to take part in after-school tutoring.

She speculated that some students may not be able to attend because of life demands.

“There are some parents who can’t allow their kids to participate because the junior high kid has to babysit younger siblings. They have to prepare dinner,” she said.

Larry Tarver, assistant principal at Wheat Ridge Middle School, said some parents choose not to participate because “they don’t realize this is going to help them.”

Denver’s Schenck Elementary School had the highest participation rate of any school in the state, with 38 percent of the 469 eligible students taking part.

Vickie Maniscalco, assistant principal at Schenck, said that in addition to the notification letters, one tutoring service offered a $100 reward to all students who had perfect attendance in their tutoring program.

“That is a huge incentive,” she said.

The students also got a treat if they had a perfect attendance in one class, and an ice cream or pizza party for five days of perfect attendance. In addition, the school provided snacks.

“We’re actually a low-performing school and we really felt it might benefit our students,” Maniscalco said.

Unlike some of the other schools, Schenck did not have alternative tutoring programs, she said.

Parent Cecilia Medina sent her daughter, 8-year-old Cecilia Frances Medina, to tutoring last year, when she was a second-grader.

“They did a lot of the reading and they did a lot of hands-on stuff,” she said. “I noticed that my little girl was better at reading and also with math.”

Medina’s daughter also received $75 for having good – though not perfect – attendance.”

“She was so happy,” Medina said.

Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-954-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.