The Reading Recovery Council of North America, which represents a popular nationwide program for struggling learners, has asked the U.S. Department of 91制片厂视频鈥檚 inspector general to investigate the agency鈥檚 signature reading initiative, known as Reading First.
In a letter written Aug. 4, the Reading Recovery organization requests an examination of the way grants are awarded through the hugely influential federal program, which has a $1 billion annual budget.
The request accuses the department, which oversees Reading First, of supporting 鈥渁 quiet yet pervasive misinformation campaign鈥� against the Reading Recovery program, despite what its supporters see as its long-standing record of accomplishment. The letter echoes some of the complaints lodged by another prominent reading group, the Success for All Foundation, in June, as well as earlier assertions by other critics.
鈥淭here are a lot of organizations and people out there who are looking at Reading First and its impact on children,鈥� Connie Briggs, the Reading Recovery Council鈥檚 president, said in an interview last week. 鈥淲e felt like we had to take a stand.鈥�
Department spokeswoman Susan Aspey declined to comment in detail on the council鈥檚 letter. 鈥淲e stand by our program,鈥� she said in an e-mail to 91制片厂视频 Week.
Dictating the Curriculum?
The council, located in Columbus, Ohio, cites four areas of concern in its 10-page letter. It charges that Reading First has 鈥渟ystematically undermined鈥� legal restrictions that forbid the federal government from dictating state and school district curricula. A second complaint is that the department has discouraged the one-to-one teacher-to-student instructional approach favored by Reading Recovery.
The letter also accuses the 91制片厂视频 Department of selectively implementing Reading First鈥檚 call for 鈥渟cientifically based research.鈥� And finally, the council asserts that the federal agency has ignored the research supporting Reading Recovery.
Despite the council鈥檚 concerns, officials in many states have said they are benefiting from the Reading First program. While they say that solid data on the program鈥檚 performance is limited, state officials have reported gains in professional development, support services, and instructional services through the program, which, as of earlier this summer, had served an estimated 4,700 schools. Department officials have also said they are seeing positive results at the state and local level.
Launched in 2002 as part of the No Child Left Behind Act, Reading First is expected to guide the flow of as much as $6 billion in federal spending over six years. A core tenet of the program is that only reading strategies backed by solid, scientifically based research will receive federal money. Under Reading First, states apply for grant funding from the federal government to support reading programs. The money then flows to selected schools and districts.
Yet the department鈥檚 criteria for judging reading programs have come under scrutiny from critics, who contend that it favors programs with ties to a relatively small group of consultants and commercial products.
Critics also maintain that the criteria narrowly and inconsistently define what programs are based on scientific research, rejecting strategies with proven records of accomplishment.
Dollars and Doubt
Since its introduction in the United States in the mid-1980s, Reading Recovery has served more than 1 million elementary school children, and is in place in about 8,600 schools. The program focuses on struggling 1st graders, who work one-on-one with teachers in daily 30-minute lessons for a 12- to 20-week period.
But critics say Reading Recovery pupils show little academic gain relative to those in other programs. They charge that Reading Recovery is too expensive, and does not focus enough on developing phonemic awareness鈥攖he understanding that words are composed of sounds and letters.
Reading Recovery advocates say their approach is backed by broad research, some of which they cite in the letter to the 91制片厂视频 Department. They assert that the agency has 鈥渟pread doubt鈥� about Reading Recovery鈥檚 effectiveness. Ms. Briggs said critics undermined the program through 鈥渨ord of mouth,鈥� rather than through written or official policy.
In June, Success for All, based at Johns Hopkins University, requested an investigation of the federal program. (鈥淐omplaint Filed Against Reading Initiative,鈥� June 22, 2005)
Alan E. Farstrup, the executive director of the International Reading Association, said despite complaints about Reading First, his own organization鈥檚 research had found 鈥渜uite a bit of variability鈥� in the types of strategies the federal program supports.
Mr. Farstrup, whose Newark, Del.-based organization represents reading teachers, said Reading Recovery鈥檚 complaint would most likely draw a 鈥渨ait-and-see鈥� response from reading advocates.
鈥淐learly, it鈥檚 an expensive program, but one that has an extensive track record,鈥� Mr. Farstrup said about Reading Recovery.
