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Despite Scandals, States & Districts
Credit Reading First
For Gains in Student Achievement
Reading First,
the billion-dollar federal effort to improve reading skills in
high-poverty, low-performing schools, has been beset by scandals involving
mismanagement and misconduct at the national level. Still, a new report
finds that the program is being implemented as intended, and is widely
credited by state and local officials for lifting achievement of students
who receive Reading First services.
The report, prepared by the Washington, D.C.-based Center on
Education Policy (CEP), is based on surveys of officials in all 50 states
and a nationally-representative sample of school districts, as well as
school district case studies.
Overall, more than three-fourths of states and two-thirds of
districts with Reading First grants reported that the program’s assessment
and instructional programs were important causes of gains in student
achievement.
Reading First remains the most highly-rated No Child Left
Behind program in terms | 
