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Time and space are not available to point out the naiveté and multiple errors in Diana Schemo’s March 9th above-the-fold article, "In War Over Teaching Reading, a U.S. – Local Clash." As the New York Times bills itself as the newspaper of record, that is a missed opportunity. In the same issue another front page story caught my eye. It discussed the 71 percent increase of crime in America’s cities. In the article Rochester, NY Mayor Robert Duffy is quoted as saying, "his city had the state’s highest dropout rate – half of all students drop out.” Hello? Anyone make a connection between the lack of reading skills, drop out rates and increased crime?

Reading First unanimously passed Congress with strong bipartisan, bicameral support.  The leaders in developing this legislation were Chairman of the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee George Miller; Senate Education Committee members Ted Kennedy and Judd Gregg, and Minority Leader John Boehner.  President Bush signed it into law January 8, 2002.  None of these leaders considered that the Reading First law was abridging local control when the law was passed.  Rather they believed that the time had come to change the paradigm from years of federal education program failure to one of success.

The 2007 review of effective programs by the Office of Management and Budget placed Reading First as one of only four federal education programs considered to be “effective”.  In Reading First, accountability was the theme, and what better way to improve reading instruction for America’s most vulnerable children than to apply the converging findings of the last 30 years of research in reading methodology and brain function?  This research was conducted at some of America’s most prestigious Universities such as Harvard, Yale, NYU, Wake Forest, and Georgia Tech, at a cost of more than $200 million.

As Ms. Schemo knows very well, the Reading First law is very specific and unambiguous that a "comprehensive" approach to reading instruction is required for any state or local school accepting federal Reading First funds, not a "phonics only" approach.  Rather, the law requires "explicit, systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, fluency, and comprehension strategies.”

That the program was voluntary is illustrated by the fact that Madison, WI chose not to accept Reading First funds.  They chose rather to eschew the converging findings of decades of research and continue using the discredited, unscientific and ineffective approach labeled "Whole Language" aka "Balanced Literacy," an approach used by most of America’s schools.  However, the poor, disadvantaged children for whom Reading First was specifically targeted lost out.  The State of Wisconsin’s own statistics tell the story.  In 2005, forty-five percent of African-Americans in Madison schools are in the lowest two categories of reading ability.  In another state assessment corroborating this fact forty-six percent of third grade African American students scored below grade level compared to nine percent of white students.

Implying that the whole language approach being used in a few classrooms in Madison, WI should apply to ALL classrooms in the nation is a classic example of why America never cleans up its act on illiteracy.  The findings of quantitative research in reading instruction must be applied in our schools, taught in the schools of education and demanded by the public or the growing scourge of illiteracy, school dropouts and crime will continue to plague America with disastrous consequences.

The Old Gray Lady missed a golden opportunity to shed a bright light on a decade’s old problem. Instead, she blinked and turned her head away from America’s most vulnerable children.  A missed opportunity indeed.

Robert W. Sweet, Jr. is a former Professional Staff Member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives and a Committee Staffer for the Reading First law.  This article previously appeared here.