PUBLIC EDUCATION Few pupils leave inadequte schools

Only half the underperforming schools offered transfers, though the law requires it.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Few pupils eligible to flee their underperforming schools for better ones have taken up the offer, a research group supporting public education said after surveying school districts.
The finding reflects a range of factors, from parents' uneasiness about moving their kids to widespread problems schools have in offering transfers as promised under federal law, according to a report released today by the Center on Education Policy.
Only 2 percent of pupils eligible to transfer did so this school year, the center found in surveying 402 school districts and getting answers from about two-thirds of them. The center's research also included state surveys and case studies of districts nationwide.
"To have such a small percentage of kids transfer shows that most parents are not really interested in having their kids move," said Jack Jennings, the center's director. But the research also underscores that many districts are struggling to make choice available, as only half the schools that were supposed to offer transfers met that mark in 2003, he said.
Schools that receive federal low-income aid must offer transfers if they fail to make adequate yearly progress for two straight years. Making yearly progress means schools must show sufficient gains among all groups of pupils, including the poor or disabled.
The schools that fall short get extra help, but they also must let any pupil transfer, under a law passed by Congress in 2001 with strong bipartisan support. School systems say they've run into many hang-ups, including schools' lacking room to accept transfers or no schools close enough to make a transfer feasible. Officials in Alaska and Hawaii, for example, said that making such an option work would require a plane ride for pupils.
But Jeanne Allen, president of the Center for Education Reform, which advocates school choice, said the real problem is "deliberate foot-dragging and overly complicated communication with parents" by districts.
"It's beginning to change, in part because this data is getting publicized," Allen said. "First, parents have to become aware of what's available, and they, in turn, will pressure districts to be responsive."
More parents have embraced the offer of tutoring for their children, said the report by the Center on Education Policy. That provision kicks in when schools receiving poverty aid fail to make enough progress for three straight years, though some have offered it earlier.