GAO Outlines Strengths, Weaknesses of Reading First

The federal Reading First program has led to changes and improvements in reading instruction, but the U.S. Department of Education failed to guard against federal officials’ “mandating or directing states’ decisions about reading programs and assessments, which is prohibited by [law],” the Government Accountability Office says in a report released today.

The long-awaited report on Reading First by the investigative arm of Congress substantiates the findings of a broad review of the reading initiative by the Education Department’s inspector general.

Little new ground is plowed in the report in describing problems with the oversight of the $1 billion-a-year program authorized under the No Child Left Behind Act. It agrees with many of the conclusions outlined in six reports by the inspector general that have been released since last September. Those reports found that federal officials worked to influence the selection of reading programs used in participating schools, interference that is prohibited by law; and that some commercial programs and assessments appeared to have been favored, and others disadvantaged,...