November 7, 2006
U.S. Audit Faults Grants for Reading in New York
By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO, NY TIMES

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 — New York State education officials improperly awarded more than $118 million in federal grants for early reading programs in New York City and elsewhere, and should return the money to Washington, according to an audit by the federal Education Department’s inspector general.

The audit asserted that New York gave the money to nine districts, including New York City, despite applications that fell short of the federal program’s standards.

In addition, the report said school officials in New York could not provide records to detail how they evaluated different school districts competing for federal dollars, and so could not justify the spending.

The audit is the latest to uncover problems with the federal Reading First program, a $1 billion-a-year effort by President Bush that awards large grants to states to buy reading textbooks and curriculums for public schools nationwide.

A report in September found that federal officials had steered states toward a handful of reading programs, in violation of the law, and cited apparent conflicts of interest on expert panels that advised states on their applications for Reading First grants.

Under federal regulations, to get Reading First money, school districts must make strong cases that every aspect of their early reading programs is grounded in scientifically based research, from the training of teachers to assessing students’ skills to the choice of curriculums. Falling short in any area scuttles a district’s application.

In the audit, the inspector general found that New York State inflated the scores of poorer districts, in an effort to give them money.

State school officials disputed the inspector general’s findings, pledging to appeal to the federal Education Department over the next month.

“We believe they are absolutely wrong,” said Tom Dunn, a spokesman for the State Education Department.

State officials blamed a contractor working for the federal Education Department for saying that they could destroy documents showing how reviewers scored applications from local school districts.

Lindsey Harr, a spokeswoman for the city schools, did not address the audit’s findings specifically, but praised the Reading First program.

In an e-mail message, Chad Colby, a spokesman for the federal Education Department, said the department was taking the inspector general’s report “very seriously,” and intended to “closely review the recommendations.”

He added that Education Secretary Margaret Spellings would “take appropriate action both within the law and in the best interest of the students served by Reading First” within 60 days of the report’s release.

Robert E. Slavin, a Johns Hopkins University professor who contends that his reading program, Success for All, was unjustly shut out of Reading First grants, said the inspector general’s report seemed unusually harsh in demanding the return of $118 million for the infractions cited.

“That would indicate gross mismanagement, particularly considering that the money was spent to teach reading,” he said.

EdWeek
Published: November 3, 2006
Web Only
Inspector General Faults New York's Handling Of 'Reading First' Grants
By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo

The New York state education department erred in awarding Reading First grants to New York City and eight other school districts, and could not provide supporting evidence that any of the 66 districts participating in the program met all the requirements of the law, the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Education found in a report released today.

All told, the districts received more than $200 million for participating in the federal reading initiative.

New York state officials should return $118 million in Reading First grants, including the $38 million for New York City, and provide documentation that the rest of the participating grantees are meeting the program's strict guidelines, the inspector general recommended in the report, the third in a series on Reading First.

The report found that New York state officials made numerous mistakes in evaluating grant proposals for Reading First, a $1 billion-a-year program under the No Child Left Behind Act, to bring research-based reading instruction to the nation's struggling schools.

"Our work disclosed significant deficiencies in (the state education department's) internal control for assuring and documenting that (local) applications met the Reading First requirements prior to awarding subgrants," says the report, which was sent by Daniel P. Schultz, a regional inspector general.

The inspector general has been conducting a broad review of the program over the past year in response to complaints that federal officials forced states to adopt or encourage the use of specific commercial products and consultants.

The first of six reports was released in September. It was a scathing critique of the federal Education Department's management of the program following an examination of program documents, e-mail correspondence between federal employees and consultants, and interviews. ("Scathing Report Casts Cloud Over ‘Reading First’," Oct. 4, 2006.)

Last month, an audit of Wisconsin's Reading First program faulted state officials there for failing to hold all grantees to strict standards. The remaining reports are due out by the end of the year, according to officials in the inspector general's office.

In the case of the nine New York districts, state officials misscored the grant applications, according to the report. The state awarded the grants even though the proposals from those districts did not earn the minimum score from an expert review panel.

Overall, state officials did not document adequately how each of the 66 grantee applications met federal requirements. The report states that critical documents had been destroyed or could not be located.

State officials disagreed with most of the findings.

"The IG's audit is absolutely wrong," Jonathan Burman, a spokesman for the New York education department said in a statement. "We approved only those applications that met all the standards required by the law and the U.S. Education Department's rules, and we have the reports of the expert reviewers and other documentation to prove it."

Moreover, he added, "results show that the children who received the funding got extra help and improved their scores on well-respected reading tests."

Audit of New york State Education Department's Reading First Program

Office of the Inspector General Reports and Resources

Office of the inspector General: 2006 - Current Audit Reports

EdWeek Published: January 14, 2004
N.Y.C. Shifts Reading Plan In 49 Needy Schools
By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo

New York City school officials have changed their game plan for boosting reading achievement in the district's lowest-performing schools in order to improve their chances of qualifying for $34 million in federal grants.

Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein announced last week that 49 of the city's neediest public elementary schools would use a single commercial reading program, and not the citywide curriculum that was put in place at the beginning of this school year.

Those schools will be required to adopt Harcourt Trophies, a program that features basal readers, books and stories aligned to specific lessons, and a detailed teachers' guide. In many of the district's more than 550 other elementary schools, teachers use a variety of children's books and a writing curriculum to complement two different commercial programs for teaching basic reading skills. The highest-performing schools can use the curricula of their choice. ("N.Y.C. Hangs Tough Over Maverick Curriculum," Oct. 15, 2003).

Although city officials say the district's reading program is rigorous and has proof of its effectiveness, they are not certain it will qualify for the additional federal reading money. The state's requirements for districts receiving federal Reading First grants discourage "layering," or the use of multiple, unrelated approaches or materials. The reading program currently in place could be viewed as a layered program, according to Michele Cahill, a senior counselor to Mr. Klein for education policy.

"The state Reading First plan does not name a particular [commercial] curriculum to be used, but it has very clear specifications," Ms. Cahill said. "We thought that to have a very strong and competitive application, we needed to have a program that is considered comprehensive."

No Dictates?

The city's reading curriculum was unveiled a year ago and hailed by officials and some reading experts as innovative. Several scholars, however, questioned whether the chief reading text, Month-by-Month Phonics, had a sufficient research base. The phonics program uses spelling and rhyming activities, as well as analogy, rather than directly teaching the letters and sounds that make up words.

At the time, New York City officials argued that the new curriculum was superior to the commercial programs that many urban districts had selected to improve students' reading skills. They responded to the criticism by adding a second text that takes a more direct approach to teaching basic skills.

Officials from the state education department had been working with the 1.1 million- student district since last spring to explain the requirements for the grants. The state will receive about $130 million a year for six years under Reading First, President Bush's $900 million literacy initiative. The program, which was authorized under the No Child Left Behind Act, requires that the money be used for professional-development programs and curriculum and instruction that are based on reliable, replicable research. Critics, however, contend that some experts and policymakers use a narrow interpretation of "research-based."

State education officials had not reviewed the city's approach or instructional materials and had not made any judgments about whether its setup met the state and federal guidelines. But state representatives had urged the district to examine the criteria carefully prior to applying for the grant. The district's application for Reading First money was due last week.

"We told them they must present evidence to us that their reading program meets the standards," said James A. Kadamus, the deputy state commissioner of education. "We stressed the criteria and the expectations," he said, "but it wasn't for us to dictate what they should use."

Vol. 23, Issue 18, Page 7

Reading First in New York State

The New York City Department of Education Reading First
Enhancing Reading Instruction in Grades K–3

Reading First is a federally funded program designed to provide states with the needed assistance to establish research-based reading programs for students in kindergarten through third grade.

The New York City Department of Education Reading First initiative includes 49 public schools and 35 non-public schools across the city.
Our goal for the almost 30,000 high-poverty K-3 students served by the program is to ensure that they learn to read well by the end of third grade.

In addition to using a research-based core reading program, Reading First schools focus on screening and monitoring student progress to drive explicit and systematic instruction. High quality professional development is ongoing to ensure that classroom teachers have the skills they need to teach each of their students effectively.

The Essential Components of Reading Instruction
The Reading First initiative is a nationwide effort to enable all students to become successful early readers. It builds on findings that were compiled by the National Reading Panel from years of scientifically based reading research. These findings identified five essential components of effective reading instruction. To ensure that children learn to read well, explicit and systematic instruction must be provided in these five areas:

Phonemic awareness: Phonemic awareness is the understanding that the sounds of spoken language work together to make words.

Phonics: Phonics refers to the understanding that there is a predictable relationship between the sounds of spoken language, and the letters and spellings that represent those sounds in written language.

Vocabulary development: To develop vocabulary means to store information about the meanings and pronunciation of words necessary for communication.

Reading fluency, including oral reading skills: Fluency is the ability to read text accurately and quickly. It provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. Fluent readers recognize words and comprehend at the same time.

Reading comprehension strategies: Purposeful, active readers use comprehension strategies to make sense of text. These are sets of steps for understanding, remembering, and communicating with others about what has been read

Reading First In New York City
Certain elements should be visible in any Reading First classroom in the country, regardless of which specific program is in use. Standards and accountability are the foundation of the Reading First classroom. Expectations are clear, as are strategies for monitoring progress toward meeting them.

Core Reading Program: A comprehensive reading program provides the basis for instruction, and connects meaningfully to supplemental materials. All schools in the NYC Reading First initiative use the Harcourt Trophies/Trofeos program. These materials offer explicit, systematic instruction in the essential elements of reading. In-class grouping strategies and differentiated curricula are used to meet students’ needs. Student placement in groups is flexible, with placement and movement based on continuing assessment. Students actively engage in a variety of reading-based activities, which connect to the five essential components of reading, as well as clearly articulated academic goals.

Assessment: A high-quality, effective reading program must include rigorous assessments with proven validity and reliability. These assessments must measure progress in the five essential components of reading instruction, and identify students who may be at risk for reading failure or who are already experiencing reading difficulty. The reading program must also include screening, diagnostic, and outcome assessments with the results made readily available to help guide instruction.

Professional development: Professional development is the core of a high-quality, effective reading program. It should increase student achievement by enabling the effective implementation of the particular program. Throughout the year, the site-based Reading First coach participates in ongoing professional development and works directly with classroom teachers. Teachers also participate in the New York State Reading Academy online course.

Since a major goal of Reading First is to prepare teachers to manage their classrooms effectively and to maximize students’ time on task, the New York City Department of Education, in collaboration with Harcourt and IBM, has developed the iREADfirst Web portal.

EdWeek Reading

Audit Faults Wisconsin’s ‘Reading First’ Grant Process

The White House: Education Reform and No Child Left Behind

About Reading: Information About Research-Based Methods