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Reading Excellence Act quietly moves forward
While all the hype surrounds issues such as education funding levels and the rewriting of Title I and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the Reading Excellence Act (REA) is quietly and steadily moving forward toward the issuance of grant money. The US$260 million program expects to serve more than 500,000 children from prekindergarten through third grade in fiscal year 1999.
The Reading Excellence Act has three basic purposes:
1. Provide children with the readiness skills and support they need in early childhood to learn to read once they enter school.
2. Teach every child to read by the end of third grade.
3. Use research-based methods to improve the instructional practices of teachers and other instructional staff.
Joseph Conaty, director of the program, gave an overview of the program at a well-attended session during the IRA Annual Convention. He noted concern about the fact that 40 percent of fourth graders in the United States do not reach the basic level of reading proficiency as defined by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
However, Conaty emphasized that these statistics vary widely according to student demographics. In high-poverty schools (more than 75 percent of the student population eligible for free or reduced lunch), 68 percent of students achieve below the basic level, as compared to just 23 percent of students in low-poverty schools (less than 25 percent of the student population eligible for free or reduced lunch).
Most of the grant money available through the Reading Excellence Act is targeted toward the most needy students. Indeed, 85 percent is going to highpoverty schools for professional development for teachers and for assistance programs for disadvantaged children who may be at risk of...