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Let me give you some background about the business that I am in.  Overview of the Supplemental Educational Services (SES) provision of the No Child Left Behind Act. What are supplemental educational services? Generally, supplemental educational services (SES) are free tutoring services that must be offered to low-income children who attend a Title I school that fails to make progress for three years (in its second year of “school improvement status”).Low-income students are generally those who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. These services offer students extra help in academic subjects such as reading, language arts, and mathematics. SES services are provided outside the regular school day—before or after school, on weekends, or in the summer.

The problem that I have is getting the parents to sign up and choose the company that I work with. The way it works is: The school district sends a letter to the parents of children that qualify for services, in that letter is a list of all the different companies that can offer services.

The only information that the school district give us is the name of the schools that qualify and that is it.

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Hi, daschwan!

I worked in the public school system for over ten years.  Your best bet is to start pounding the pavement.  When you contact the school secretary your info just gets put in with everyone elses - fliers left on the staff room tables or on the front office display table.  You want to talk with special education teachers and with counselors.  I`ve worked both elementary school and middle school and can tell you that some of these teachers will be receptive, and some will not.  The best approach is to set an appointment with them individually or with all counselors and Sped teachers at once.  Get a feel for their teaching philosophy and reassure them that your approach will not contradict what they wish to accomplish with their students.

These people not only work with the special education students, but they are also responsible for the screening and intervention plans developed for all students who are having academic difficulties.  You offer them an option not only for their IEP students, but also for students who are underperforming but do not qualify for special education services.  You also offer an option in the way of the preliminary learning plans that must be adopted and implemented prior to special ed placement.

The end of September, December Holidays, and just after spring break are the highest referral times for these intervention teams - make sure you are speaking with them just before these `peak referral` points.

Also - is your business modeled so that you could perhaps offer services at individual schools?  For instance, if you could provide weekly services after school that might help parents who have transportation issues. 

Good Luck!

Tracy

daschwan -

What a wonderful program!! Being as a formal teacher I can say that most of the parents don`t read the letters/flyers children bring home. 

Maybe ask school if you can talk to parents during back-to-school night? Or attend one of the staff meetings so teachers can talk to the parents about this program.

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Life isn`t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

Hi Daschwan:

I would imagine that many parents, upon receiving that qualification letter from their school district, contact the school their child attends about the letter and about what they should do.  It couldn`t hurt to get to know the employees who would field those calls, in order to differentiate your company from the competition.  Schools probably can`t officially recommend any certain company, but if your company`s name is on the tips of peoples tongues whenever the subject of SES services comes up, you`re bound to get mentioned.

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Lynn Herrick
Managing Member
The L`innovation Group

L`innovation - helping small businesses turn problems into profits.