Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

In a press release on the Nation's Report Card History
and Civics results (May 16), Secretary of Education
Margaret Spellings managed to insert a commercial
message for Reading First:  "Just last month, my
department released positive data on the effectiveness
of the Reading First program. It showed significant
improvement in the reading proficiency of our nation's
first-, second-, and third-graders."

A few hours spent examining the Department's data will
show that the "improvement" was not nearly as large as
claimed and that the figures mask significant
variability among states and some failures to improve
(for my analysis, see Krashen, 2007).

In addition, there was no comparison group, a serous
violation of scientific method; gains could have
resulted from factors other than Reading First.

It also needs to be pointed out that one of the tests
used, Dibels, has serious problems, as discussed in
detail by Goodman (2006). Goodman also notes that
Dibels is easily available on the internet, which
means any teacher or parent can drill their children
on the actual test items.

Goodman, K. 2006. A critical review of Dibels. In K.
Goodman (Ed.) The Truth about Dibels. Portsmouth:
Heinemann.

Krashen, S. 2007. Reading First: "Impressive" Gains?
(see also posted comments)
http://www.districtadminist ration.com/pulse/commentpos t.aspx?news=no&postid=1 8974