Reading First cuts

In “Massive Funding Cuts to ‘Reading First’ Generate Worries for Struggling Schools,” Kathleen Kennedy Manzo of Education Week reports about the views of educators and policy analysts on recent reductions in funding for the US government’s Reading First program. Ms. Manzo, whose article includes the opinions of both those who consider the RF program to be succeeding and those who are frankly critical of it, uses this lead.

The reading coaches, professional-development programs, and instructional materials that are the cornerstones of the Reading First program and are credited with improving instruction in struggling schools may be threatened by a deep cut included in the 2008 federal budget, officials and observers say.

The reduction of more than 60 percent—from nearly $1 billion each year since the program was rolled out in 2002 to $393 million for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1—will likely inhibit further improvements and test the sustainability of the changes Reading First has fostered over the past six years. The cut is part of an omnibus spending bill President Bush signed into law last month.

Link to Ms. Manzo’s article (subscription may be required). For previous posts at Teach Effectively, about Reading First, please see here.

Full disclosure: I am a member of the Reading First Federal Advisory Committee. That I have pointed to Ms. Manzo’s article here does not imply that I endorse or condemn the views expressed by others in her report. I’m only passing along the news here, folks.