Training of Okla. Reading Teachers in Doubt

By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo

After training thousands of teachers over the past five years in a massive effort to raise reading achievement, Oklahoma officials are worried that the exercise may have been for naught.

The state received word this month that, after several revisions, its application for a federal reading grant was approved by the U.S. Department of Education.

But while many in the cash-strapped state cheered the $12.5 million for raising reading achievement in the neediest schools, others were scrambling to salvage the state's existing literacy initiative after a federal panel suggested it is not aligned with current...