Shep Barbash published “Looking Beyond the Reading First Controversy” in Education Next, the quarterly journal of the Hoover Institute that examines issues related to US education reform. Although he probably wrote his piece before the recent release of the interim version of the study examining the impact of Reading First, Mr. Barbash makes a spirited argument for the benefits of Reading First. Here’s his lead:
“Reading First is the most effective federal program in history.” So reads the opening line of a report that Alabama superintendent of education Joseph Morton sent to his congressional delegation last June, in which he recounts how the program has raised reading achievement for poor students in his charge. Morton’s view is shared by leaders in many other states, where thousands of Reading First elementary schools have reported unprecedented progress closing the “literacy gap” among the poor.
Continue reading ‘More RF’
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Over on EdBizBuzz, one of the Ed Week blogs, Marc Dean Millot has reprinted a letter from Bob Slavin in response to the recently published analysis of Reading First by Sol Stern. Professor Slavin lists a set of concerns that Mr. Stern omitted from his analysis. Read it here.
Please remember that I am a member of the Reading First federal advisory committee. I am not, however, speaking for the committee, my fellow panelists, nor the US Department of Education here.
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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.
Continue reading ‘Reading First cuts’
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The Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy continues to promote investment in research-proven programs. The coalition proposes a $3 billion investment in grants permitting scaling up of evidence-based social interventions.
Continue reading ‘Emphasizing excellence’
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