On a Voice of Literacy podcast Dr. David Pearson talks about the efficacy of Reading First. Reading First was a part of No Child Left Behind, signed into law in 2002, and it included mandates about the type of curriculum should be adopted in regards to elementary reading and how that curriculum should be implemented -the assessments, pedagogy, etc. "It was also supposedly based upon scientifically-based reading research," says Pearson. The idea of basing reading instruction on the results of reading research certainly doesn't sound like a bad one.

However, the research into the results of this change in reading instruction has been split. If one looks at the data coming from individual states, the impression in positive. Students are showing gains and teachers are appreciating the development they've received. Literacy coaches have been hired to help teachers and share the updates in reading research. However, when there was a national review of Reading First, the result were not so encouraging. Why is that?

Pearson suggests that it is due to the fact that NCLB and Reading First are not implemented in one way across the country, but rather in as many ways as there are states implementing the changes. So, while in one state, there may have been an influx of energy to the educational system regarding reading instruction, and that renewed focus had positive outcomes for the students - in other states, the implementation may have been poorer. The national results thus display the averaging out of those disparate responses to Reading First.

I can certainly see where a reinvigorated and freshly developed staff would have a positive impact on the reading instruction of their students. Pearson talks of this a little more in his article, for which he was then interviewed on the podcast. The idea being that the change is important - the new hope and motivation to succeed by latching onto a new "research-based" system caused the improvement. While staff development is good, and refocusing on student reading is positive, I'm less certain about the various mandates. However, that is the path our education has been on. Thinking that we can judge everybody on the same criteria and mandates will get us to the benchmark levels of achievement so desired.