Reading & Literacy

U.S. Senate Education Leaders Seek Investigation Into Reading First Program

By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo — October 04, 2005 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The Republican and Democratic leaders of the U.S. Senate education committee have asked the watchdog arm of Congress to investigate the Reading First program.

The request to the Government Accountability Office follows allegations that federal officials and their agents may have steered program contracts to favored publishers and consultants, and complaints that the program has not adhered to the principles of scientific evidence outlined in federal law.

It also comes on the heels of at least three requests to the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Education this past summer to scrutinize the implementation of the $1 billion-a-year reading initiative administered by the department.

In a Sept. 23 letter to the comptroller general of the GAO, Sen. Michael B. Enzi, R-Wyo., the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and the panel’s ranking minority member, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., asked for a review of the requirements for states and districts receiving grants under the program, which was authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act.

“Reading First has had a significant impact on the application of scientifically based reading research on applied instruction at the elementary school level,” the letter says. “However, numerous concerns have been raised regarding implementation of the program, including concerns regarding guidance from the U.S. Department of Education on the approach to teaching reading used by states, districts, and individual schools under the program.”

A spokeswoman for the Education Department said she could not comment on an ongoing investigation.

‘Much Ado About Nothing’

Many reading experts have praised the program—which promotes the use of scientifically based reading instruction, materials, and teacher training to improve achievement in the subject in struggling schools—but critics say that federal officials have placed too many restrictions on how the money can be spent. What’s more, a number of state and district officials have reported that the Education Department and federal consultants pressured them to require the use of specific products and researchers as conditions for receiving Reading First money. (“States Pressed to Refashion Reading First Grant Designs,” Sept. 7, 2005.)

Officials of Success for All, a popular Baltimore-based reading program, filed complaints with the Education Department’s inspector general in June, alleging mismanagement, restriction of the organization’s ability to trade, and lack of adherence to scientific evidence of what works in improving reading instruction. The Reading Recovery Council of North American, based in Columbus, Ohio, and Cupp Publishers, of Savannah, Ga., filed similar complaints. All three say they have lost clients who have been told the groups programs do not fit Reading First requirements.

“We’re glad the GAO is moving on this,” said Success for All founder Robert E. Slavin. Selected teaching materials, assessments, training programs, and instructional models, he contended, “have been relentlessly pushed on states and on districts in a way that is very inconsistent with the intention of the law and the expectations of [members of Congress] who promoted the law.” But Robert W. Sweet, who helped write the Reading First legislation as a senior staff member for the House Education and the Workforce Committee, said the investigation may be “much ado about nothing.”

“During the writing of the Reading First bill through its implementation, all parties, on both sides of the aisle, including the [Bush] administration, vetted all the issues satisfactorily,” he wrote in an e-mail to Education Week. “If there are problems with the implementation, which I tend to doubt, then they should be looked into by whatever appropriate body can do so. If problems are brought to light, then they should be resolved consistent with the law,” he added.

Staff members from Sen. Enzi’s and Sen. Kennedy’s offices are scheduled to meet Oct. 10 with representatives of the Education Department and the GAO to “develop the contours of the study,” according to Melissa Wagoner, a spokeswoman for Sen. Kennedy’s office.

Related Tags:

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
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
Mathematics Webinar How to Build Students’ Confidence in Math
Learn practical tips to build confident mathematicians in our webinar.
Student Achievement K-12 Essentials Forum How to Build and Scale Effective K-12 State & District Tutoring Programs
Join this free virtual summit to learn from education leaders, policymakers, and industry experts on the topic of high-impact tutoring.

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 More States Are Taking Aim at a Controversial Early Reading Method
Lawmakers in some states are trying to ban the "cueing" approach, which asks students to rely on pictures or context clues to identify words.
6 min read
A teacher sits on the floor of the classroom with three young children as she reads a story allowed to them.  The children are huddled n closely and are listening attentively.
E+
Reading & Literacy Letter to the Editor Reading Comprehension Matters
Focusing on evidence-based teaching practices is critical when teaching students how to read, says this letter to the editor.
1 min read
Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week
Reading & Literacy What the Research Says Want to Improve Early Reading Comprehension? Start With Sentence Structure
We speak differently than we write. For comprehension development, children need exposure to syntax common to both.
2 min read
Hispanic schoolteacher reading aloud to her young students
E+ / Getty
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 Whitepaper
Reading by Design: Science & Systems to Support All Readers
Structured Literacy supports all students, especially those with dyslexia, by providing evidence-based instruction.
Content provided by Lexia Learning