I never knew G.W could read. Maybe he should start with the Constitution. The honorable Mrs. G.W was librarioan. She could always read it to him

The state of the American press today is remarkable. I remember the days when a reporter was supposed to research the FACTS, and not just report one side of a story. I have a degree in broadcast journalism, but it was acquired in 1980. Apparently, the rules of reporting have changed over the years. Just look at some of the anger in some of these messages. I would be angry too if I believed this reporter's entirely one-sided story. Reading First is a piece of legislation. It sets forth a set of achievement standards. It has NOTHING to do with selecting the vendor or vendors for these programs. Nor does it forward any curricula. If the vendor meets the criteria, then the vendor's curriculum is certified. End of story.

None of you know what you're talking about! Expecially you liberals (BUNCH OF IDIOTS!)

Voyager is a compnay of many problems. This is just the begining. Best never put any thought into the actual employee. That culture lives on today. The entire comapny is a train wreck. Turnover is high because they don't pay anywhere near competative, and there is no real management team.

This is just more prrof of that.

What's more surprising:

Another Bush crony getting awarded a fat contract by the federal government?

or

The leader of the free world knows someone who can read without moving their lips?

Okay, so I made up the part of moving the lips.

I have followed this dismantling of reading/writing programs for years. Reading/Language Arts Consultants have watched quality programs unravel because the money was all tied up with Diebels and Harcourt and lexiles and Quality Quinn(Texas connection hugging Bush), etc. I find it sad and ironic that there are millions of dollars to put into these special "scientifically based programs" and not money left for books so kids can actually read. It's like learning how to play golf without the clubs. Now, thanks to NCLB, we are leaving most high needs students behind because they dislike reading the garbage we are mandated to use and they continue to fail the tests they are mandated to take all of the time until the dropout rate soars through the roof. I feel sorry for our students who are caught in this nightmare. It is going to take decades to straighten out this mess.

The Bush adminitration will go down in history as the worst in modern history. This is just another example of the morality this administration said it was going to bring back to the white house. It is just sad. Any of you who think the president cares about your children think again... it is all about greed and him helping his friends. It is sad.

Amazing!! How do you sell sell a mediocre program like Voyager for 360 million!?!?

I have been associated with the creation and growth of Voyager Expanded Learning since its inception in the mid-'90s, long before Reading First. This is a mission driven company, created to address the academic problems of the nations's struggling students who are seriously behind in readng skills. Voyager's first reading program was launched prior to the current administration taking office, was formed around the most reliable scientifically based reading research, and has a record of performance that far exceeds that demonstrated by the "critics" your reporters apparently relied on. In fact,it is clear that the basis of this reporting was generated by those bitter critics whose programs have failed to meet the accountability requirements of Reading First.

Randy Best is one of the most visionary entrepreneurs imaginable. He founded Voyager largely with this own funds, and created a mission driven company that has demonstrably proved the National Institute of Health research that virtually all children can be taught to read proficiently. Well over one million at-risk students across the nation have benefited from his creativity, a number that continues to grow year after year. Individual schools and districts have made the decision to use Voyager, not the Department of Education. It is patently untrue and highly biased to suggest that Voyager has received its contracts on the basis of politics and financial ties.

Randy Best ranks right up there with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs when it comes to innovation and forward looking vision. Why is it that mainstream media, as exemplified by ABC, is so quick to broadcast the negative story, promoted by self serving competitors, instead of touting the successes of the "American entrepreneur? Shame.

Interesting that no mention is made of the mechanics of the program. An interested reporter without a pre-conceived agenda might investigate the state of reading in texas during president Bush's 2 terms. Reading dramatically improved during his tenure for one main reason: phonics-based programs were instituted. Anyone with small children knows the drill. Learn your alphabet, learn the sounds and put the sounds together. It worked for years until the "whole language" disaster was instituted in the 50s. One need only compare the literacy rates for our Armed Forces during WWII and Korea. A drastic drop which can only be attributed to the change to "whole language". Many of our children who are labeled "developmentally disabled" have not been taught to read. Sadly, when school districts receive extra funding based upon the percentage of "special" students' in the district, it's no surprise that drastic remedial measures are not taken.

If it lies and stinks, it has ties to george Bush

Bob Slavin and "Success for All" should not be allowed to continue using political influence in Congress and the national media as an instrument of personal revenge. Voyager is not responsible for Bob's company's sales decline or for "Success for All" being kicked out of most school districts. Voyager has a 95% renewal rate for a reason. It works and Bob's program does not. Bob's endless lobbying in Congress has gotten him more federal appropriations than any other reading program in history so why has he gone whining to his political friends in Congress and the national media? It is because he is losing the competitive battle in the marketplace and is learning that arrogance and a big ego do not teach children to read.

Voyager must fight back and stop turning the other cheek. When a news report contains 95% misinformation, Voyager should take legal action to defend themselves. The good guys will come in last if they don't.

Even if it requires energy that would have gone to teaching children to read, Voyager must stop ignoring their self serving detractors and stand up for themselves.

LaMonte just got a Reading First grant. We didn't get ours.

Open Court is what the reading program is called in St. Louis. It was forced down the throats of teachers here. It takes up hours of the school day and achieves marginal results. Schools have to extend the school day to teach anything else. It is scripted and timed. The teachers resent being treated like puppets, and the students are weary of two hour reading classes. there are few minority authors that are represented and no focus on minority achievement in the stories that the children read. Wasn't Open Court discarded in the 70's? Why is it that the same book publishers always get the lucrative public school contracts? Why don't they share in the accountability for the lack of achievement in our public schools? We focus on teachers, kids and parents, while chronies get rich selling weak curriculums to our schools. Shame! Shame! Shame!

Whole Language, when used properly, includes phonics instruction. Over the years, it was misunderstood and misapplied by teachers who thought it was an easy way out. Phonics taught in a vacuum devoid of context is a disaster, too. Good teaching includes phonics and lots of good literature. Good teachers know that children vary greatly in the proportions of phonics and literature needed to learn reading. Many reading programs, such as reading First, assume that one program suits all. People like Randy Best may or may not mean well, but they never listen to the people who have spent years teaching children to read. If they did, they would admit that there is no such thing as a one size fits all program, and that assuming that there should be uniform benchmarks for judging young children's development ignores the variations in maturity levels. Why, oh why are people who don't know how to teach allowed to make education policy?

What is interesting is that the Voyager Literacy program is not listed in the What Works Clearinghouse of the Institute of Education Science of the Department of Education. The Institute was created to evaluate programs at the level of an experiment. This is the highest level of research according to Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference. By William R. Shadish, Thomas D. Cook, and Donald T. Campbell (2002). The head of the Institute of Education Science has deep ties to the Whitehouse. The Institute was supposed to be insulated from partisan politics. Yet the Director of the Institute and the former Commissioner for Science in the Institute never conducted this level of research on the Voyager Literacy Program. If the reading scores of the Voyager program were shown to be no better than the results achieved by the Dick and Jane readers, then the value of the company would be almost worthless. The level of "science" used in Reading First is an almost meaningless standard. It is far below the criteria of The What Works Clearinghouse.

Rod Paige and Reed Lyon, the architects of Reading First now work for Voyager. Do we now know why Voyager Literacy was not evaluated at the highest level?

This looks more like a criminal conspiracy than a Department of the United States government.

Response to MDW:

It is baffling that no news agency has ever taken a good look at Rod Paige's corporate connections. Going back to his tenure as superintendent in Houston, he leaves a long trail of questionable contracts rife with conflicts of interest with, among other companies, Coke and Aramark. It would be an easy story for even an average reporter with an eye for detail to piece together.

Rod Paige is the common thread running through all of the NCLB controversy. Why is he treated with kid gloves?

Man, stuff like this drives me mad. First off this is why conservatives like me hate the Bushies - they're liberal big-spenders in self-righteous republican clothing. You want your kids to read? Turn off the t.v., pick up a book and read for yourself adn to the kids as well, constantly. Kids learn behaviour from the parents, if the parents read the kids will. You can throw millions of money at this stuff and all it will do is line the pockets of rich, non-reading fat cats.

In addition to all the commentary here by viewers/readers, there is a common question that still has not been asked or answered from/by either side of the discussion:

"What criteria was used to select Reading First over the other programs?" The natural follow-up question to that would be, "Where is the documentation supporting the decision to award the contracts to RF as opposed to any other organization(s)." Finally, another question that bears asking: Why it is necessary to limit "official" (a/k/a 'allowed') teaching methodology to one format? Kids are not a "one size fits all" proposition in child-rearing, health care or rate of maturity. Does it not then follow that their educational needs are not answered by a "one size fits all" model such as that mandated by NCLB?

NCLB (and its attendant programs) fails the entire country in its lack of accountability in concept, design and implementation. Everyone suffers the results, and none more so than our children.