After-School Special

No Child Left Behind forces failing schools to pay for private tutoring, but exactly what are students getting?

Under overcast skies, students and their parents begin to file into North Hollywood High School’s central courtyard. The morning is chilly—not typical fallweather in Los Angeles. Nor is the presence of so many teenagers and their families at a school on Saturday a frequent occurrence.

But inside, standing behind tables draped with colorful cloths, pamphlet-brandishing representatives from several nationally respected tutoring companies are jostling each other to offer the low-income, minority students free one-on-one tutoring worth more than a thousand dollars.

“You have to keep in mind that you are the client,” tutoring-fair organizer Pilar Buelna reminds a mother and her daughter as they survey the smiling company reps trying to draw their attention with lollipops and bright advertising placards. “To get an A+, come study with...