Rocky Start

25 September 2006



US Literacy Program Plagued by Mismanagement

The Bush administration has made literacy a top priority in America’s schools. Credit either Laura Bush, ex-librarian, or the slightly dyslexic president himself, but this journal couldn’t agree more with the goals. A literate society is simple preferable to an illiterate one. So, one is aggrieved by the administration’s internal audit of the Reading First program which says the project is mismanaged and rife with conflicts of interest. A billion dollars is a terrible thing to waste.

When the program got started in 2002 and 2003, the report says that federal officials tried to influence state officials on which curricula to use. To Europeans, such a worry sounds silly; of course, the ministry of education should get involved in that way. However, education in the American federal system has always been the province of the states. One could dismiss this as bureaucratic in-fighting and disagreement over lines of responsibility if it were the only problem. The report, however, makes a more serious statement.

The inspector general’s report also says that some of the officials who could determine which materials to use had financial ties to publishers of those materials. “The department did not identify any of these connections in its conflict of interest screening process; therefore, it would not have been in a position to deal with the potential conflict raised by these connections,” the report reads.

Education Secretary Margaret Spelling answered the charges in a statement, “Some of the actions taken by Department officials and described in the Inspector General's report reflect individual mistakes. Although these events occurred before I became Secretary of Education [“don’t blame me; I didn’t do it.”], I am concerned about these actions and committed to addressing and resolving them.”

In any case, the director of the reading program is leaving at the end of the month according to the department. He’s going back to the private sector, where he will be able to make the odd phone call to his old office in exchange for a fat consultancy fee.

Not everything is Washington is a bad idea, and not every program gets off to a glittering start. However, this project, which serves kindergarten to third-grade kids, really is important. One hopes that the next internal audit shows progress. If not, heads should roll.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.


Home

Google
WWW Kensington Review







Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay Learn More