Senate Report Details ‘Reading First’ Conflicts of Interest

A new congressional report suggests that at least one former Reading First consultant actively pushed his own commercial products while serving as a key adviser to states on applying for the reading grants, contrary to his testimony last month at a federal hearing.

The report released today by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee includes financial statements of that consultant, Edward J. Kame’enui, and his counterparts at the U.S. Department of Education’s regional technical-assistance centers, as well as the details of some contracts between the consultants and commercial publishers.

“The committee’s investigation revealed that four [technical-assistance-center directors] had substantial financial ties with various education publishers during the time they were under contract or subcontract with the department for the Reading First program,” said the report, released by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., the chairman...