Red, White and Roux

When my son, Jesse, was around six or seven years old, I went to a bookstore and bought stacks and stacks of comic books. It was great fun even with the sticker shock, caused by memories of buying skinny comics for 12 cents and fat ones for a quarter, at Buzzett's drug store in downtown Apalachicola.

At the book store, I found my old favorites like Archie and Veronica, Richie Rich, and Superman, but the old Classics Illustrated were nowhere to be found. I was sad about that, because my knowledge of Lord Jim, Treasure Island, Moby Dick, Lorna Doone, Typee, Last Days of Pompeii and other classics, came from those comic books.

I bemoaned the loss. My sister and I still have many of the comic books we read as kids, all individually packaged in zip-lock bags. We graciously allowed Jesse to sample those delights. He devoured them, and I helped create a lifetime reader.

I believe that children read when they enjoy the process. The story or information must be personally engaging and at a vocabulary level they comprehend. We all reach a point when we have to make ourselves care about the subject matter we're reading. Form 1040 and the small print on credit card statements comes to mind. But, if we have become good readers, we can comprehend even the stuff we would rather forget.

Comprehension is really the key, isn't it?

Well, that brings us to the Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, which released a report on the "Reading First" program on May 1, 2008. The Washington Post, the New York Times, and even the St. Petersburg Times have been all over the story. "Reading First" has been an essential component of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

The "Reading First Impact Study: Interim Report" found that "The program did not increase the percentages of students in grades one, two or three whose reading comprehension scores were at or above grade level." So students in those grades didn't improve in their comprehension!

In fact, the executive summary from the study concluded "...estimated impacts of student reading comprehension test scores were not statistically significant." Translation: we can't see anything that shows that any students have benefited from this instruction at all.

The study's final report is due in early 2009.

As part of the six year, $6 billion-total "Reading First" program, we teachers were directed to "scientifically-based-programs" that stressed explicit instruction in phonemic awareness (that's the sound of letters and combinations of letters), phonics, fluency (that's reading aloud), vocabulary, and lastly, comprehension.

Evidently, comprehension is the big problem. Well yeah, if kids don't get what they read, what's the use of all those reading skills?

I got caught up in all that data on the Internet, checking out entire reports, not just the executive summaries. A lot of information is available about the federal mandate of "No Child Left Behind."

Some of the "scientifically-based" reading programs included materials provided by Ignite! Learning, a company headed by the President's brother, Neil Bush. Big money in education is also going to private companies who are contributors to political campaigns.

In a 2006 report, the Education Department's Inspector General made some very harsh public comments about conflicts of interest and the lack of oversight.

Six billion dollars is a lot of money to pay for no benefit.

These facts are out there - if you choose to search.

As for me, I am just trying to get the right book to the right kid, hoping that some comprehension, and maybe even a little joy, might occur.

Denise Roux is a regular columnist for the Apalachicola and Carrabelle Times.