Dr. Cindy Cupp's Online Newsletter

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Nov. 2006 - April 2007 Online Newsletter
by Dr. Cindy Cupp

On Friday, September 22, 2006 at approximately 12 noon the Inspector General of the United States Department of Education released the first of six reports concerning the federal Reading First program. I highly recommend that you follow this story and please send these links to every educator on your email list. I will update this list as new articles appear in the press.

News articles about the Inspector General's report on Reading First have now run in the New York Times, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal, Education Week, Title I Monitor, USA Today, Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune and others.

Georgia educators please note: The following articles concern the national Reading First program and are not connected to the state of Georgia's initiative that was also named Reading First.

Cindy Cupp
Currently, President, Cupp Publishers, Inc.
Retired, Director of Curriculum and Reading, Georgia Department of Education
Always, A Reading Teacher

The Washington Post - Saturday, April 21st, 2007:
Key Initiative Of 'No Child' Under Federal Investigation - Officials Profited From Reading First Program

By Amit R. Paley - Saturday, April 21, 2007

"The Justice Department is conducting a probe of a $6 billion reading initiative at the center of President Bush's No Child Left Behind law, another blow to a program besieged by allegations of financial conflicts of interest and cronyism, people familiar with the matter said yesterday.

The disclosure came as a congressional hearing revealed how people implementing the $1 billion-a-year Reading First program made at least $1 million off textbooks and tests toward which the federal government steered states.

"That sounds like a criminal enterprise to me," said Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House education committee, which held a five-hour investigative hearing. "You don't get to override the law," he angrily told a panel of Reading First officials. "But the fact of the matter is that you did." Read More....

The Washington Post - Sunday, October 1st, 2006:
THE EDUCATION ISSUE, By Michael Grunwald

"President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act was premised on three revolutionary goals. The first was to focus on low-performing schools and students; hence, No Child Left Behind. The second was to beef up the federal role in education, enforcing national standards through testing. The third was to bring facts and evidence to the notoriously squishy world of education policy, promoting teaching methods backed by "scientifically based research" instead of instinct and fad. This was the least-publicized goal, but arguably the most vital; the phrase "scientifically based research" appeared more than 100 times in the landmark 2001 law.

The centerpiece of the new research-based approach was Reading First, a $1 billion-a-year effort to help low-income schools adopt strategies "that have been proven to prevent or remediate reading failure" through rigorous peer-reviewed studies. "Quite simply, Reading First focuses on what works, and will support proven methods of early reading instruction," the Education Department promised.

Five years later, an accumulating mound of evidence from reports, interviews and program documents suggests that Reading First has had little to do with science or rigor. Instead, the billions have gone to what is effectively a pilot project for untested programs with friends in high places..." Read More...

The Washington Post - Saturday, September 23rd, 2006:
Audit Finds Ethical Lapses In U.S. Reading Program, by Ben Feller, Associated Press

A scorching internal review of the Bush administration's billion-dollar-a-year reading program says the Education Department ignored the law and ethical standards to steer money how it wanted.

The government audit is unsparing in its view that the Reading First program has been beset by conflicts of interest and willful mismanagement. It suggests that the department broke the law by trying to dictate which curriculum schools must use. It also says that program review panels were stacked with people who shared the director's views and that only favored publishers of reading curricula could get money." Read More...

News Articles about Reading First:

The Washington Post - Saturday, April 21st, 2007
Key Initiative Of 'No Child' Under Federal Investigation

Atlanta Journal-Constitution - February 26th, 2007
Ga. whistleblower shakes up U.S. Dept. of Education

OregonLive.com - Portland,OR,USA
Oregon researchers at center of dispute over reading program

Education Week - January 19, 2007- Federal Audit Cites Problems With Georgia's 'Reading First' Program http://www.edweek.org//ew/articles/2007/01/19/20georgiaread_web.h26.html

New York Times
Article about Dr. Cupp by Joe Berger

Education Week - November 1st, 2006 - Audit Faults Wisconsin’s ‘Reading First’ Grant Process
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/11/01/10read.h26.html

Thompson.com - October 30th, 2006 - Former Reading First Director Draws Fire
http://www.thompson.com/libraries/titleionline/news_desk/tio061030b.html

Thompson.com - October 30th, 2006 - ED Ignored Early Warnings on Reading First Conflicts
http://www.thompson.com/libraries/titleionline/news_desk/tio061030a.html

Michigan Daily - October 9th, 2006 - Education scandal attracts too little attention
http://www.michigandaily.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=99fc60a2-a88b-45b4-9f74-59253c04fffd

Schools Matter - October 9th, 2006 - Reading Experts Find Their Voices, Finally
http://schoolsmatter.blogspot.com/2006/10/reading-experts-find-their-voices.html

The Washington Post - Oct. 2nd, 2006 - 'Anything Goes' Administration
In olden days, the president -- or Congress -- would put a stop to this.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/01/AR2006100100810.html

The Washington Post - Sept. 26th, 2006 - Washington in Brief: Criminal Probe Sought in Education Program
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/25/AR2006092501491.html?nav=hcmodule

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Bush Reading Program Mismanaged, Audit finds
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/printedition/2006/09/25/natreading0925a.html

Trenton Times - October 06, 2006 - Rep. Holt seeks probe federal program
http://www.nj.com/news/times/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1160108817164520.xml&coll=5

The Columbus Dispatch - October 04, 2006 - Report rips federal reading initiative
http://www.dispatch.com/print_template.php?story=dispatch/2006/10/04/20061004-A1-02.html

Washington Post - October 1st, 2006 - The Education Issue
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/29/AR2006092901333_pf.html

Boston Globe Editorial- September 30th, 2006
http://schoolsmatter.blogspot.com/

Education Week - September 29, 2006
www.edweek.org

Baltimore Sun - September 26, 2006
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.read26sep26,0,2736433.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

Thompson.com - September 26, 2006
http://www.thompson.com/public/newsbrief.jsp?cat=EDUCATION&id=1364

eschoolnews.com - September 25, 2006
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=6592

USA Today - September 24, 2006
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-09-24-reading-first_x.htm

Chicago Tribune - September 23, 2006
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0609230036sep23,1,1850833.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Washington Post - September 23, 2006 - Audit Finds Ethical Lapses In U.S. Reading Program
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092201356.html

hosted.ap.org - September 22, 2006
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/READING_FIRST?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME

Reading Recovery - September 22, 2006
http://www.readingrecovery.org/index.asp

Thompson.com - September 22, 2006
http://www.thompson.com/public/newsbrief.jsp?cat=EDUCATION&id=1362

ed.gov September, 2006
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/aireports/i13f0017.pdf