Published: May 10, 2008 09:50 am         

Editorial: Reading program fails test

Primary and elementary schools are right to focus on the basics, but last week brought troubling news that a multi-billion-dollar national initiative to improve reading among young students appears to have fallen flat.

"Reading First" ... (is) a cornerstone of President George W. Bush's signature education policy, No Child Left Behind. ... (a)bout $6 billion ($1 billion per year) has been spent on "scientifically based" reading instruction ...

Yet, the U.S. Department of Education's first major assessment of the program, published last week, concludes that Reading First has had no "statistically significant" impact on student reading comprehension scores.

Principals question education policy driven by what they see as a tyranny of tests. Teachers consider many of the tests as a poor system of measurement ...

The Bush administration may better understand that frustration now that its prized Reading First has bombed an exam.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch