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June 20, 2008
Congress could eliminate questionable reading education program
Reading First, a controversial federal program created by the No Child Left Behind Act of 200, distributed over $900 million during a five-year period to improve reading instruction in low-performing schools. The program would be eliminated under a 2009 spending measure approved Thursday by a House Appropriations subcommittee.
Austin is the only local school district receiving funding under the program.
Here’s how Appropriations Committee Chair Dave Obey, D-WI, explained the decision to cut the Reading First program yesterday:
The bill does not continue funding for the Reading First program, which has been plagued with mismanagement, conflicts of interest, and cronyism as documented by the Department of Education Inspector General. Moreover, a scientifically rigorous study released by Department of Education in May 2008 found that the program has had no discernable impact on student reading performance.
He was talking about a May 2008 study that found that the language skills of children in schools receiving Reading First funding generally didn’t improve significantly more than children in schools not receiving the funding.
He was also talking about reports and audits like those from the Office of the Inspector General that suggested officials and contractors who helped implement the program may have benefited financially from it.
But all is not lost. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings says there are plenty of other federal funding sources school districts can use to improve literacy instruction in elementary schools.
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