"There was no statistically significant impact on reading comprehension scores in grades one, two or three," Grover J. "Russ" Whitehurst, director of the Institute of Education Sciences, the Education Department’s research arm, said in a briefing with reporters. He said students in both groups made gains.

"It’s possible that, in implementing Reading First, there is a greater emphasis on decoding skills and not enough emphasis, or maybe not correctly structured emphasis, on reading comprehension," he said. "It’s one possibility."

Whitehurst said there are other possible explanations. One, he said, is that the program "doesn’t end up helping children read." He said the program’s approach could be effective in helping students learn building-block skills yet not "take children far enough along to have a significant impact on comprehension." (Washington Post May 1, 2008)

• Reading First did not improve students’ reading comprehension. 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. In each of the three grades, fewer than half of the students in the Reading First schools were reading at or above grade level.


• Reading First increased total class time spent on the five essential components of reading instruction promoted by the program. The program increased average class time spent on the five essential components of reading instruction by 8.56 minutes per daily reading block in grade one, and by 12.09 minutes per daily reading block in grade two. This implies a weekly increase of three quarters of an hour for grade one and one hour for grade two.


• Reading First increased highly explicit instruction in grades one and two and increased high quality student practice in grade two. The program increased the percentage of class observational intervals spent on the five dimensions of reading instruction that involve highly explicit instruction by 3.65 percentage points in grade one and by 6.98 percentage points in grade two. The program also increased the percentage of class observational intervals spent on the five dimensions of reading instruction that involve high quality student practice by 3.67 percentage points in grade two. There was virtually no observed change in grade one.


• Reading First had mixed effects on student engagement with print. The program reduced the percentage of students engaged with print by a statistically significant 8.42 percentage points in grade two. The impact on student engagement with print in grade one (4.63 percentage points) was not statistically significant.