Spending on federally mandated tutoring offered at no cost to disadvantaged children has doubled over the past five years in Hawaii, reaching $6.6 million last school year, as more families take advantage of a program that so far hasn’t translated into higher test scores.

Nearly 9,000 students participated last school year in the program, which is paid for with federal dollars and aimed at boosting reading and math proficiency for low-income kids. That’s up from 4,822 kids in 2007.

But a recently released report shows that the effect of tutoring on student proficiency was "minimal" in the 2009-10 school year, as it was in previous years. The "best predictor" of a student’s performance remains the score a child received on the previous year’s test, the report said.

"The data isn’t showing the services are having the desired outcomes that both the DOE (state Department of Education) and U.S. Department of Education were hoping for," said Dan Williams, who oversees the tutoring program for the DOE. "The results aren’t happening."

The disappointing conclusion comes as schools statewide begin their annual push to get students enrolled in tutoring, and as some educators are questioning whether giving schools more flexibility over how to spend the federal dollars set aside for the program would produce better results.

Wade Araki, who recently left his post as principal of Benjamin Parker School in Kaneohe to take over at Kaimuki High, said many of his Parker students used free tutoring but he "didn’t see a huge impact" from it.

"I think there could be better ways to use" the funds, he said.

Araki and others also say the federal rules for the tutoring program are too restrictive, and that schools should have more discretion over how the money is spent. Currently, schools aren’t allowed to steer families to a certain provider. Until last year, schools also couldn’t serve as tutoring providers, but no schools have opted to sign up since the restriction was lifted.

Tutoring providers, meanwhile, say the service has helped struggling students improve their grades, hone their study skills and, in some cases, boost their performance on annual assessments. They also point out the amount of free tutoring offered through the program is small, ranging from 10 to 30 hours a year, when compared with classroom time.

"We do feel that the work that we’re doing in terms of trying to supplement what’s happening in the classroom does seem to help," said Craig Crisler, chief operating officer of It’s All About Kids, one of the largest tutoring providers in the program. The organization’s own assessments show most of its kids are making gains, he said.

"Our data keeps telling us we’re doing the right thing," he added.

THE FEDERAL TUTORING program, mandated under the No Child Left Behind law, was seen as a way to help at-risk students catch up. States are required to screen providers, which offer students a certain number of tutoring hours based on a state’s per-student tutoring allocation.

This year, Hawaii students can receive $700 to $900 for tutoring, depending on where they live. Children are eligible for tutoring if they get free or reduced-cost lunch and attend schools that have failed to meet adequate yearly progress under NCLB for two years or more.

Nationwide, as in Hawaii, the program largely hasn’t resulted in significant gains to student achievement, prompting some to question whether the money that goes to private tutors should go elsewhere.

Several states — facing shrinking education budgets — are eying the millions going to tutoring each year and at least three have sought federal waivers to use the funds in other ways, such as for longer school days.

Hawaii has not yet decided whether it will pursue a similar waiver.

Educators are debating the value of the tutoring program as more students than ever are signing up. Of the 41,095 students statewide who were eligible for the program last school year, 8,891 participated, an increase of nearly 2,400 students from the year before.

Hawaii’s participation rate of 22 percent is higher than the national average — and is up from 13 percent in 2007 and 17 percent last year.

At the same time, the number of tutoring providers has also grown — to 20 this school year from 10 in 2006. All but two of the providers are for-profit educational service companies, and most get good reviews from parents, schools and complex area superintendents in annual evaluations.

But those reports also say the tutoring isn’t spurring test score gains.

The most recent evaluation, released last week and conducted by the University of Hawaii’s Social Science Research Institute, showed that the impact of tutoring on annual assessment scores is "negligible" overall.

Tutoring providers say the lack of results in test scores doesn’t mean that their services aren’t helping kids improve in school.

"I don’t think it’s a fair evaluation in terms of how successful a program is," said Matt Cho, Hawaii partnership manager for tutoring provider Imagine Learning.

Cho points out tutoring makes up a small part of a student’s learning time, and so wants to see other measures used to see if tutoring is helping.

Statewide, schools are gearing up for the tutoring program, sending informational packets home with kids and urging parents to sign up. The free tutoring usually begins this month and wraps up in May.

At Washington Middle School on Thursday night, scores of parents gathered in the school’s cafeteria for an opportunity to hear from tutoring providers and to get information on how to sign up their children.

About one-third of eligible kids at the school get free tutoring.

Mike Harano, principal of Washington Middle, said even with a high participation rate, the school still isn’t reaching all the students who are eligible for the tutoring dollars.

"Could the money be used to reach more kids?" he said. "I actually think that’s true."

Harano also pointed out that the school has its own tutoring program, paid for by state funds. He said both the federal tutoring and the school’s tutoring services help kids improve, and likes offering kids both options.

But, Harano added, more flexibility in how the dollars are spent would allow administrators to make more informed decisions at the school and complex level. "I would like a chance to show what we could do," he said.

Waipahu High School Principal Keith Hayashi said he’d support a discussion on possible other ways to spend tutoring dollars, and said the biggest concern is not the tutoring provided but the amount.

"With 15 hours, it’s difficult to make very significant progress," he said.

Kent Matsumura, principal of Honowai Elementary, agreed, saying tutoring providers can only do so much in the time alloted. "Sometimes, you get three weeks (with a child) and that’s it," he said, adding the school also offers its own tutoring, paid for with grant money.