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ABC NEWS - A scathing report documents "substantial financial ties"
between key advisors of Reading First, a controversial federal reading
grant program, and publishers who benefited from the program. The
report, issued by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, called the findings
"troublesome because they diminish the integrity of the Reading First
program." Reading First is a multi-billion-dollar program meant to boost
literacy among low-income children that was adopted as part of No Child
Left Behind in 2001.
The Kennedy report centers on four directors of the Reading First
Technical Assistance Centers, who, the report says, were highly
influential in advising states on which reading programs to adopt in
order to qualify for federal funds.
According to the report, the directors had "extensive ties with
education publishers" at the same time they were responsible for
evaluating other publishers' programs. The report concluded that such
ties may have "improperly influenced actions." . . .
Today's report follows six investigations by the Department of
Education's inspector general that found bias, mismanagement and
conflicts of interest in the implementation of Reading First.
House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif.,
has called for a criminal investigation of Reading First by the Justice
Department. According to Miller, the conflicts of interest uncovered
"raises questions about criminal activity and criminal intent about what
a number of these players were doing."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/05/no_child_left_b.html
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ABC NEWS - A scathing report documents "substantial financial ties"
between key advisors of Reading First, a controversial federal reading
grant program, and publishers who benefited from the program. The
report, issued by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, called the findings
"troublesome because they diminish the integrity of the Reading First
program." Reading First is a multi-billion-dollar program meant to boost
literacy among low-income children that was adopted as part of No Child
Left Behind in 2001.
The Kennedy report centers on four directors of the Reading First
Technical Assistance Centers, who, the report says, were highly
influential in advising states on which reading programs to adopt in
order to qualify for federal funds.
According to the report, the directors had "extensive ties with
education publishers" at the same time they were responsible for
evaluating other publishers' programs. The report concluded that such
ties may have "improperly influenced actions." . . .
Today's report follows six investigations by the Department of
Education's inspector general that found bias, mismanagement and
conflicts of interest in the implementation of Reading First.
House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif.,
has called for a criminal investigation of Reading First by the Justice
Department. According to Miller, the conflicts of interest uncovered
"raises questions about criminal activity and criminal intent about what
a number of these players were doing."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/05/no_child_left_b.html
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