Educating "At-Risk" Students: What Works and How Much Does It Cost?

For many years, lawmakers have been expanding the size and reach of the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. One of the proposed expansions this year deals with a new role for OSPI in helping educate disruptive, at-risk students.

But why would we enlarge the budget and responsibility of OSPI when the private sector is already well equipped to successfully intervene with at-risk students? For example, what if we could:

• keep the majority of at-risk students in school through graduation
• successfully educate 75% or more of them, and
• do it for one-fourth to three-fourths the current cost.

Believe it or not, these happy results are already being achieved all across the country with various programs in many different venues. We don’t hear much about them in our state because of real and imagined restrictions related to "contracting out."

One of the most successful programs is Ombudsman, an Illinois educational firm now operating in more than 100 districts across the country.

An Ombudsman educational site is unusual by today’s standards—unusual, but successful. A typical site is a one-room, modern schoolhouse, usually in a professional or business complex that operates in several three-hour shifts. Students of various ages, all of whom have been labeled "at-risk," or have failed in their previous educational environment, work independently and in small groups with an instructor. The latest computer technology is used, but the instruction in basic education is no-nonsense and straightforward. Ombudsman teachers work with instructors in each child’s school on the educational goals necessary for that student to fill in the academic gaps and get back on track. The student/teacher ratio is never more than 1 to 10, and it is usually more like 1 to 5 or 1 to 7.

Typically, a school district signs a one-year contract with Ombudsman for an agreed upon per student cost. The cost for Ombudsman to educate an at-risk student averages half to two-thirds what the school district already spends. For students with more specialized needs, or for districts with specialized alternatives, Ombudsman’s costs are usually one-fourth to one-half the district’s costs. And there are no hidden costs. Ombudsman’s per student remuneration includes facilities, insurance, salaries, benefits, equipment and curriculum.

In most cases, within one month of signing a contract, Ombudsman can be up and running, on site, with modern facilities, state-certified teachers and appropriate curriculum.

Ombudsman is just one of many private companies experiencing success with students who, for academic or behavioral reasons, have failed in a traditional education setting. Nearly everybody benefits from this approach. At-risk students benefit because of an environment and curriculum tailored for their particular needs. Teachers and other students benefit because the disruption of inattentive or misbehaving students is removed. Administrators and school boards gain ground not only because of the above-mentioned benefits, but also because the district keeps unspent funds already allocated for at-risk students.

Because Ombudsman and many of its successful competitors are non-unionized, private companies, they are unpopular with education union officials. And when union leaders say "no" to a particular policy, too many lawmakers flinch and duck. For the sake of students and their families, we must look beyond parochial self-interests and look toward meeting the needs of the next generation.

Prepared by Lynn Harsh, Senior Research Analyst, Contact (360) 956-3482 or effwa@effwa.org

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org