(Neil Bush's) Reading First not helping comprehension, study finds.

Reading First not helping comprehension, study finds.
In a front-page story, the Washington Post (5/2, A1, Glod) reports, "Students enrolled in" Reading First, 'a $6 billion federal reading program that is at the heart of the No Child Left Behind law, are not reading any better than those who don't participate," according to the Reading First Impact Study: Interim Report, which was released yesterday by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), which is the "Department of Education's research arm." Russ Whitehurst, director of the IES, said, "It's possible that, in implementing Reading First, there is a greater emphasis on decoding skills and not enough emphasis, or maybe not correctly structured emphasis, on reading comprehension."


More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/01/AR2008050101399.html

Also:
Reading First: 'Science' or Politics?
The Bush Administration has been using the Reading First program to reward political cronies and ideological allies, ignoring a legal mandate to make funding decisions that reflect "scientifically based research," according to federal investigators. These and other findings are detailed in a report by the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Education, released on 22 September 2006.

As a result of favoritism and conflicts of interest, the IG found, states were pressured to approve materials from only a handful of preferred publishers. Virtually all others were excluded from participating in the Reading First program, which has provided $4.8 billion in grants to states and school districts since 2002.
http://www.elladvocates.org/nclb/reading.html

Gee, another Bush crony phony program steals money from school districts to enrich a Bush. Will this fun ever cease? I mean, is our children learning yet?

is if it also contains "not".

What else is new?

I talked with a union President for teachers in my area and asked why they couldn't get rid of it. She stated the pressure was so intense locally they couldn't (being a Republican area).

good for causing extreme problems.