The controversy over Congress trying to kill Reading First continues, with some of it focusing on an editorial I wrote last week for USA Today. Flypaper nicely provides all the links here (the ultimate in laziness: having someone else provide the links to your own editorial). Here’s how reading expert Tim Shanahan sees it. 

Not everyone gets why Krashen ended up writing the opposing view for that editorial. He was our backup in case Sen. Harkin and Rep. Obey declined to write explaining why the $1 billion a year program reading program was getting the axe. They both declined.

The controversy over Reid Lyon’s (pictured here) role on the National Reading panel and Reading First is breaking out elsewhere, here and here.

All this leaves the structuring of early reading unsettled. Here’s an interview running today in educationnews.org with Charlene Cobb, author of Wright Group Early Reading Intervention.

When federal Reading First money dies out, this will become a state-by-state issue, which makes this article about Arizona interesting.

How this all affects boys is laid out in this post. What needs to happen is clear. The National Reading Panel needs reconvening, with a slightly different mix, and the panel should stay convened until a consensus is reached on teaching reading with comprehension.

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