Test prep firms such as Princeton Review and Kaplan have always been popular among students preparing for college entry exams, but these companies are now pitching their services to a younger crowd - elementary and junior high students - thanks to NCLB. Critics denounce the pricey tutoring as just one more edge that wealthy students have over poorer youngsters, even as advocates hope it will narrow the achievement gap by giving children who are lagging behind a chance to catch up on materials they should have learned in school. In a piece for The Washington Monthly, Siobhan Gorman takes a look at the burgeoning "kiddie test prep" industry and finds that - in contrast to the gimmicky test-taking skills taught to older students - its emphasis is on teaching and learning. Since NCLB offers money to pay for it, tutoring represents poor kids' best shot at a decent education, Gorman concludes. See "Tutor Restoration," The Washington Monthly, December 2002.
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No Child Left Behind Act