Reading & Literacy

Audit Faults Wisconsin’s ‘Reading First’ Grant Process

By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo — October 30, 2006 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Wisconsin education officials failed to ensure that schools and districts that received federal Reading First grants adhered to the program’s strict guidelines, a failing that, if not rectified, could cost the state nearly $6 million of its $45 million allocation, a federal report concludes.

The audit by the U.S. Department of Education’s inspector general, dated Oct. 20, found that nine of the state’s 26 grant recipients had not received the required approval of a review panel and may not have met all the requirements for receiving the money.

The “Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s Reading First Program” is posted by the U.S. Department of Education’s inspector general.

State officials acknowledged that some of the local grant proposals were stronger than others, and they agreed with the inspector general that the state needs to monitor more closely the program’s implementation and give additional guidance to Reading First schools and districts.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction “supports the Reading First program and will do whatever it takes to guarantee successful implementation of all its programs,” Julie Enloe, Wisconsin’s Reading First coordinator, wrote in her response to the inspector general.

The report is the second of six reviews of the $1 billion-a-year Reading First program being conducted by the inspector general. The first, released in September, was a scathing critique of the federal Education Department’s management of the program following an examination of program documents, e-mail correspondence between federal employees and consultants, and interviews. (“Scathing Report Casts Cloud Over ‘Reading First’,” Oct. 4, 2006.)

‘Is This All There Is?’

The new report is limited to Wisconsin’s performance in administering the grants. Little detail about the state’s difficulties in getting approval for its grant during the program’s rollout in 2002 and 2003 is given.

Some Wisconsin educators had complained, for example, that consultants and reviewers rejected the specific reading programs the state had proposed, and pressured them to adopt other programs or assessments.

There is also no explanation of the decision by officials in the Madison school district to give back its $2 million grant shortly after it was approved. Madison Superintendent Art Rainwater decided to drop out of the program after federal consultants told district officials they would have to abandon their existing literacy initiative and adopt a commercially published core reading program, he wrote in a detailed memo to the school board. (“States Report Reading First Yielding Gains,” June 8, 2005.)

“Is this all there is?” Kathy Champeau, who heads a task force on the federal No Child Left Behind Act for the Wisconsin State Reading Association and is a member of the state’s Reading First leadership team, said of the inspector general’s audit.

“I was shocked at the limited scope of the report,” she said, “and that it didn’t address … the coercion the state faced to use certain published programs.”

Those issues, however, were not within the scope of the audit, which was to determine whether the state education department followed the requirements of the Reading First program in issuing the grants to local education agencies, the report says. Other audits may include more detail on the Wisconsin program.

Ms. Champeau contended that the Wisconsin department went to great lengths to monitor the grants and ensure that the participating reading programs were of high quality.

A version of this article appeared in the November 01, 2006 edition of Education Week as Audit Faults Wisconsin’s ‘Reading First’ Grant Process

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
The Future of the Science of Reading
Join us for a discussion on the future of the Science of Reading and how to support every student’s path to literacy.
Content provided by HMH
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
From Classrooms to Careers: How Schools and Districts Can Prepare Students for a Changing Workforce
Real careers start in school. Learn how Alton High built student-centered, job-aligned pathways.
Content provided by TNTP
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Reading & Literacy Trump School Funding Freeze Has Some Districts Scrambling to Save 'Science of Reading' PD
Teachers need ongoing assistance to make difficult shifts in teaching reading. Some districts had counted on the withheld Title II funding.
4 min read
Third-grader Fallon Rawlinson reads a book at Good Springs Elementary School in Good Springs, Nev., on March 30, 2022. For decades, there has been a clash between two schools of thought on how to best teach children to read, with passionate backers on each side of the so-called reading wars. But the approach gaining momentum lately in American classrooms is the so-called science of reading.
Third-grader Fallon Rawlinson reads a book at Good Springs Elementary School in Good Springs, Nev., on March 30, 2022. Many more states and districts are emphasizing evidence-based practices, including phonics, in reading programs. But the U.S. Department of Education's withholding of teacher-training funding could stymie some of those efforts.
Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP
Reading & Literacy ‘A Good Deal of Nostalgia’: New York’s Uneven Embrace of the Science of Reading
Educators say that they're mixing new approaches with the curricula and teaching strategies they've previously used, a new survey finds.
6 min read
Dylan Mayes, left, reads from a book about Willie Mays during a reading circle in class on Oct. 20, 2022, in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Dylan Mayes, left, reads from a book about Willie Mays during a reading circle in class on Oct. 20, 2022, in Niagara Falls, N.Y. After the state launched a "science of reading" initiative in 2024, implementation has been piecemeal, a new survey finds.
Joshua Bessex/AP
Reading & Literacy How a Teacher Used an AI Tool to Help Her Students' Reading Comprehension
A 6th grade language arts teacher discusses how AI image creators can help boost reading comprehension.
2 min read
Jessica Pack, a 6th grade language arts teacher at James Workman Middle School in Riverside County, Calif., speaks on AI and literacy at the ISTELive 25 + ASCD Annual Conference 25 in San Antonio on July 1, 2025.
Jessica Pack, a 6th grade language arts teacher at James Workman Middle School in Riverside County, Calif., speaks about AI and literacy at the ISTELive 25 + ASCD Annual Conference 25 in San Antonio on July 1, 2025.
Kaylee Domzalski/Education Week
Reading & Literacy Quiz Quiz Yourself: How Much Do You Know About Early Literacy Learning?
Answer 7 questions about building strong family and school connections.