Some Educators See Reading Rules as Too Restrictive

By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo

Washington

The kickoff of President Bush's reading initiative came in a blitz of workshops, brochures, and a video presentation aimed at preparing states to tap into $900 million in grants this year.

Some of the nation's most prominent reading researchers, for instance, took the lectern at a reading academy sponsored by the Department of Education here last month to drill state school administrators and policymakers on the essentials of effective reading instruction. The six-year, $5 billion Reading First program, they declared, will guarantee that only proven methods and strategies are used to teach reading, particularly to struggling students.

"I really feel this is our moment in history," Susan B. Neuman, the department's assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, told more than 100 participants at the first of three workshops. "In the past, I think we've done things [in reading instruction] helter-skelter. Now, we've got to have good, solid evidence that it works before doing...