‘Reading First’ Not Helping Students Grasp Meaning, Federal Study Finds

The $1 billion-a-year Reading First program has had no measurable effect on students’ reading comprehension, on average, although participating schools are spending significantly more time teaching the basic skills that researchers say children need to become proficient readers, a major federal report finds.

The long-awaited interim report from the Reading First Impact Study, released May 1 by the Institute of Education Sciences, says that students in schools receiving grants from the federal program have not fared any better than their counterparts in comparison schools in gaining meaning from print.

To read an overview visit the Education Week site and read Kathleen Kennedy Manzo's article: Reading First Doesn't Help Pupils 'Get it'.