House Committee on Education and Labor
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Save Reading First!

Tomorrow's edition of Education Week, available online (subscription may be required), examines the challenges being faced by state directors of the Reading First program, who have seen the tremendous success of this program yet are grappling with a stunning 60 percent budget cut imposed last year by the Democratic Congress.  From the article:

The federal Reading First initiative is not likely to survive if massive funding cuts are not reversed, several state directors for the program told federal officials at a meeting here this week. . .

[A]nxiety is widespread among state Reading First administrators that many of the gains they’ve made in training teachers and improving instruction in schools with large numbers of struggling students will evaporate without a continuous effort.

“Reading First has allowed us to do the kind of professional development that teachers need … to get down in the trenches and work with them,” said Debora Scheffel, the director of Colorado Reading First, which oversees grants at 49 elementary schools. “We can’t do the kind of detailed work we want to do without the kind of funding it provides.” . . .

In a lively discussion of the funding situation, state and federal officials at the Reading First meeting here all agreed that it is worth saving.

“I was a principal of a Reading First school in Crab Orchard, Kentucky,” said Jim Ward, who left the rural school to work in the state Reading First office. “I was eight years in that building, and I saw more progress with Reading First than anything I’ve seen in my 20 years in education. This process taught me how to be an instructional leader in my building.”

Republicans stand firmly in support of this program to help disadvantaged children learn to read.  Stay tuned for more information about this important program and efforts to ensure it gets the funding needed to maintain effective reading programs in our nation's schools.

Posted by Press Staff (03-11-2008, 02:25 PM) filed under Education

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  Comments

Comment by: Eileen Gauthier March 01, 2009 07:54 PM SAVE READING FIRST!!! AVOYELLES PARISH LOUISIANA HAS SHOWN WONDERFUL GROWTH. THIS YEAR ALL SIX ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR MONETARY REWARDS DUE TO STUDENT PROGRESS ON HIGH STAKES TESTING! EILEEN GAUTHIER ELEMENTARY SUPERVISOR AVOYELLES PARISH LOUISIANA

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