http://www.thedenverchannel.com/education/13292625/detail.html
Reading First Program Plagued With Problems
Advisers Had Deep Financial Ties To Publishers
POSTED: 7:13 am MDT May 10, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Officials who gave states advice on which teaching
materials to buy under a federal reading program had deep financial
ties to publishers, according to a congressional report Wednesday.
The report, compiled by Senate Education Committee Chairman Edward
Kennedy, D-Mass., details how officials contracted by the government
to help run the program were at the same time drawing pay from
publishers that benefited from the reading initiative.
Kennedy's report added new detail to a conflict-of-interest
investigation by the Education Department's inspector general, John
Higgens, who earlier had found that the Reading First Program favored
some programs over others and that federal officials and contractors
didn't guard against conflicts.
The new report focused on four contractors who headed centers that
guided states in choosing reading programs aimed at kindergartners
through third graders.
It found the contractors "had substantial financial ties to publishing
companies while simultaneously being responsible for providing
technical assistance to states and school districts." That damaged the
program's integrity and illustrated the need for Congress to head off
future conflicts, the report concluded.
The report zeroed in on four people who directed the program's
regional Technical Assistance Centers:
Edward Kame'enui, who headed the western technical assistance center
based at the University of Oregon. Between 2002 and 2004, while
holding positions in which he was evaluating Reading First assessment
programs and giving state education agencies technical assistance,
Kame'enui entered into three different contracts with the publisher
Pearson/Scott Foresman, the report said.
"Due largely to his contracts with Pearson/Scott Foresman, Dr.
Kame'enui's income soared in the period following the implementation
of the Reading First program," the report said, adding that the
majority of his royalties were derived from products used by states
and districts in conjunction with Reading First.
Kame'enui, who now works as a commissioner at the Education
Department's research arm, earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in
royalties from Pearson/Scott Foresman between 2001 and 2006, the
report said. He also received tens of thousands of dollars in
consulting fees from Voyager, another publisher of products used by
states under Reading First from 2000 to 2003.
Scott Foresman also tapped Kame'enui to travel to education
conferences and workshops on the company's behalf while he was the
western center director, the report said. Kame'enui did not respond to
requests for comment.
Douglas Carnine, who replaced Kame'enui as the western center's
director in 2005, when Kame'enui left to take up his federal position.
Previously Carnine had other roles related to Reading First.
Even as he headed the western center, Carnine worked with and
continues to work with numerous publishers, the report said. He earned
hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties from publishers that did
well under Reading First, such as Houghton Mifflin Company from 2002
to 2006.
However, Carnine said in an interview Wednesday that his royalties
from Houghton Mifflin and other publishers were for educational
programs that had nothing to do with K-3 reading, the focus of Reading
First.
Joseph Torgesen, who directed the eastern regional district at Florida
State University from 2003 until the present. Torgesen is co-author of
a McGraw Hill reading program that can be used under Reading First.
The study found that from 2002 to 2006, Torgesen earned thousands of
dollars in royalties and other payments from companies such as McGraw
Hill and Pearson and Sopris West, which later was acquired by Cambium
Learning.
In one internal e-mail, Torgesen questioned whether he should seek
special permission from the department to review the new Scott
Foresman curriculum for Maine. "I had a discussion with some folks in
Washington yesterday who rightly pointed out that we might want to
think about rewarding Pearson (/Scott Foresman) for significantly
strengthening their program," Torgesen wrote.
Torgesen, in an interview Wednesday, said a review for the state of
Florida had initially identified a Scott Foresman reading program as
weak. However, Torgesen said Scott Foresman subsequently made
significant improvements to the program, after which education
officials in Maine asked Torgesen's center to review the program
again.
"That prompted my e-mail to the folks in Washington, who suggested
perhaps we might make an exception to re-reviewing Scott Foresman,
since they had worked so diligently to improve their program,"
Torgesen said.
Sharon Vaughn headed the central technical assistance center at the
University of Texas-Austin from 2003 to 2005. She received tens of
thousands of dollars in royalties from Pearson Education Inc. and
"other income" from Voyager Expanded learning, two programs used under
Reading First.
Vaughn's lawyer, Gaines West, said it was noteworthy that the report
did not say that Vaughn was improperly influenced by her relationship
with publishers while she was the center's director.
The report concluded by recommending that Congress adopt new
restrictions to safeguard against financial conflicts in federal
education programs.
"Individuals serving on advisory committees or in the peer review
process for the department should be prohibited from maintaining
significant financial interests in related educational products or
activities," the report said.
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is scheduled to testify in
Congress on Thursday on the Reading First program and problems in the
student loan industry.
Spellings said in an Associated Press interview Wednesday that she had
not yet thoroughly reviewed Kennedy's report but that any new findings
of wrongdoing would be addressed by the department.
She said, however, that it would be impossible to run department
programs without relying on some people with ties to the private
sector. "We want and need expertise as we make policy and do this
work," she said.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may
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http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinions/ci_5848083
Reading First program faces integrity test
Article Launched:05/08/2007 08:46:50 PM PDT
EDUCATION Secretary Margaret Spellings deserves to be read the riot
act when she appears this week before a congressional panel probing
allegations of mismanagement and cronyism in the Reading First
program.
On Spellings' watch, the $6billion federal initiative to improve
literacy rates in dis-
advantaged schools appears to have served instead as a profit center
for textbook authors and education consultants with Bush
administration ties.
One textbook author on leave from the University of Oregon while
overseeing the federal National Center for Special Education Research
testified before Congress that he earned $150,000 in annual royalties
from an early-reading program. His co-author made a similar amount.
Another raked in $500,000 from sales of a literacy test used by
Reading First schools. It could have been obtained free on the
Internet, but states instead were steered toward purchasing packaged
versions or hand-held computers that
contained the test software.
Portions of six reports by the inspector general were referred to the
Department of Justice for criminal review.
Reading First is a signature piece of the No Child Left Behind federal
law. About $1billion annually is spent to train teachers and buy
materials. Taxpayers, and the 2million children helped by Reading
First to read by the third grade deserve clean government.
Calls in Congress for annual financial disclosure statements and
strict rules preventing federal officials from pressuring state and
local Reading First programs are spot-on. Indeed, Spellings should get
out in front on this.
The Seattle Times
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