Teach Effectively!

First Lady Laura Bush spoke to the Reading First conference attendees 29 July in Nashville (TN, US). Following introductory comments by Raymond Simon, US Deputy Secretary of Education, who called for “More Reading First, not less,” Mrs. Bush addressed about 5500 people for about 10 minutes.

After restating the importance of reading in contemporary society, the rationale for evidence-based reading instruction, and the importance of data-based education, Mrs. Bush cited examples of successes in Reading First schools (interrupted by cheers and applause from the representatives of those schools and educators affiliated with them who were in the audience). She ended her comments with a call for restoration of funding of the Reading First program:

Each of you have your own stories of success in your own schools. Yet despite evidence that the program is effective, Congress last year cut Reading First funding by 60 percent. Now appropriators in the House and Senate are proposing to eliminate this program altogether.

If Congress continues on this path, it would be the first time in a decade that no federal money would be provided for reading instruction. The solution for our nation’s struggling students is not less time and fewer resources. Congress must restore the full $1 billion appropriation for Reading First.

Although I would hazard a guess that the majority of people in the audience voted for candidates other than Mrs. Bush’s husband in the last two presidential campaigns in the US, the reception for Mrs. Bush’s remarks was welcoming and, one might even say, enthusiastic.

Link to a press release providing the text of Mrs. Bush’s comments. Also see Kathleen Kennedy Manzo’s coverage of the conference in a blog entry headed “They’re Singing Reading First’s Praises in Nashville“.

Obligatory reminder: I’m a member of the Reading First Advisory Committee, but my statements here are my own. They do not reflect the views of the committee or of other members of the committee.