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Reading First: States Report Improvements in Reading Instruction, but Additional Procedures Would Clarify Education's Role in Ensuring Proper Implementation by States

GAO-07-161 Published: Feb 28, 2007. Publicly Released: Mar 23, 2007.
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Highlights

The Reading First program was designed to help students in kindergarten through third grade develop stronger reading skills. This report examines the implementation of the Reading First program, including (1) changes that have occurred to reading instruction; (2) criteria states have used to award sub-grants to districts, and the difficulties, if any, states faced during implementation; and (3) the guidance, assistance, and oversight the Department of Education (Education) provides states. GAO's study is designed to complement several studies by Education's Inspector General (IG) in order to provide a national perspective on some of the specific issues being studied by the IG. For this report, GAO administered a Web-based survey to 50 states and the District of Columbia, and conducted site visits and interviews with federal, state, and local education officials and providers of reading programs and assessments.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Education In addition to addressing the Inspector General's recommendations to develop internal (1) policies and procedures to guide program managers on when to solicit advice from General Counsel and (2) guidance on the prohibitions imposed by section 103(b) of the Department of Education Organizing Act (DEOA) and in order to ensure that the department complies with statutory prohibitions against directing, mandating, or endorsing state and local curricular decisions, the Secretary of Education should also establish control procedures to guide departmental officials and contractors in their interactions with states, districts, and schools.
Closed – Not Implemented
Education agreed with this recommendation and reported that it took the following actions to address it: 1) issued a memorandum to all senior officers in February 2007, and communicated to all staff, on factors they should take into account to strengthen the management and administration of its programs; and (2) began to provide all Department staff with extensive training on the standards for internal controls, similar to existing annual training requirements for ethics as of May 2007. In addition to the activities described above, Education issued additional guidance to Reading First staff related to prohibitions on mandating or directing curriculum and instruction. However, Education had not set up a process to help ensure the guidance was followed as of October 2008. In addition, Congress phased out the funding for the Reading First program FY 2009 budget.
Department of Education To help the department conduct effective monitoring of the Reading First program, the Secretary of Education should establish and disseminate clear procedures governing the Reading First monitoring process. In particular, Education should delineate states' rights and responsibilities and establish timelines and procedures for addressing findings.
Closed – Implemented
Education agreed with this recommendation and reported it took the following actions to address it: 1) developed and disseminated a new monitoring protocol for both the state education agency and the local education agency that includes a time line to help clarify expectations during the monitoring process; (2) established new guidance on the monitoring plan clarifying states' rights and responsibilities.

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Topics

EducationEducation program evaluationEducational standardsEducational testingEligibility criteriaFederal aid to statesstate relationsSchool districtsSurveysProgram implementation