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The disappointing results of the Reading First program
Published on Wednesday, May 07, 2008
One of the laudable aspects of the 2002 No Child Left Behind law is its emphasis on improving the reading skills of low-income children in underperforming elementary schools. The federal education law set up the Reading First program, which directs $1 billion a year in grants to qualified school districts for that purpose. The program reaches some 1.5 million children in about 5,200 schools, focusing on phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension.
How disappointing, then, that the interim report last week from the U.S. Department of Education concluded Reading First has not yielded the expected results. Part of a large-scale assessment of the program (the final report is due in the fall), the interim report said the gains in comprehension scores were not significantly different between Reading First schools and others that were not in the program.
The study found, though, that Reading First teachers spent an extra 10 minutes a day on reading skills. Also, schools that spent more money per pupil performed better, reinforcing the value of a focused approach, rather than thinly spreading grants across the district. Put another way, there should be no illusions about the time, money and instructional creativity required for the nation to bring children up to speed in low-achieving schools.
Get the full article here.
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