Five years later, an accumulating mound of evidence from reports, interviews and program documents suggests that Reading First has had little to do with science or rigor. Instead, the billions have gone to what is effectively a pilot project for untested programs with friends in high places.
THE EDUCATION ISSUE
By Michael Grunwald
Sunday, October 1, 2006; B01
President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act was premised on three revolutionary goals. The first was to focus on low-performing schools and students; hence, No Child Left Behind. The second was to beef up the federal role in education, enforcing national standards through testing. The third was to bring facts and evidence to the notoriously squishy world of education policy, promoting teaching methods backed by "scientifically based research" instead of instinct and fad. This was the least-publicized goal, but arguably the most vital; the phrase "scientifically based research" appeared more than 100 times in the landmark 2001 law.
For more information see:
Bush Reading Program Rife with Fraud. “Direct Instruction” at Eye of the Storm.
And also see:
Learning to Read - 'Scientifically'
President Bush's education blueprint emphasizes money for reading instruction, but only if it is "scientifically based." What might that mean?
