Kentucky schools due $89 million for reading
Federal funds to help improve instruction for grade-schoolers

By Chris Kenning, The Courier-Journal, April 29, 2003

Kentucky schools will get more than $89 million over the next six years to help poor and struggling students learn to read under President Bush's Reading First initiative, U.S. Department of Education officials announced yesterday.

As many as 70 schools across the state will share nearly $14 million annually to improve reading instruction in kindergarten through third grades -- more than three times what the state currently spends on special reading programs.

The money will help schools implement scientifically scrutinized programs that emphasize elements such as phonics and comprehension, provide early identification and help for struggling students, better monitor each student's progress and help train teachers to improve reading instruction.

"This is huge -- it's going to make a difference," Kentucky Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit said during a news conference at South Louisville's Jacob Elementary attended by local, state and federal officials.

Kentucky is the 30th state to receive funds under Reading First, part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act that became law last year. Indiana was granted $84 million in January.

To receive the money, states must ensure that schools use proven instruction methods and show progress after three years, or lose the funds. Kentucky's application had been rejected three times before the state came up with an acceptable way to monitor students and comply with other requirements.

Bush has proposed spending $1.2 billion nationwide next year on the initiative. Funding over the entire six years is dependent upon congressional appropriations.

Kentucky has earmarked about $11 million in the first year for low-income schools where less than 50 percent of students read at levels the state considers "proficient." Although nearly all districts in the state contain at least one such school, only 70 will be funded in a competitive process that will begin next year, officials said.

Many schools likely must tweak or change their programs to qualify for as much as $150,000 each annually -- money that could be used for such things as reading coaches and new curriculum, officials said.

All of the eligible schools teach and test in reading, but some use programs that aren't scientifically proven or are incomplete or haphazard, said Starr Lewis, Kentucky's associate education commissioner for curriculum.

The changes each school would make in its reading program would be decided by its site-based decision making council. U.S. Rep. Anne Northup, R-3rd, who spoke at yesterday's announcement, said the law would "make sure what works is what's being applied" for some of the neediest students during a critical phase of development.

Stephen Daeschner, superintendent of the 96,000-student Jefferson County Public Schools, said he expects the district's reading program, which combines whole-language and phonics instruction, to qualify, along with other school programs, such as the more phonics-driven "direct instruction." He did not know how many schools might be eligible, but he said the district would seek as much money as possible.

The state also will spend about $2 million of the first year's money to train reading teachers, including sending all K-3 reading and K-12 special-education teachers to five-day institutes on the essential components of reading research.

Kentucky has shown some improvement in elementary reading scores in recent years, but middle and high school scores have not shown substantial gains, Lewis said.

Nationwide, reading achievement has been flat in the past two decades. Less than one-third of fourth-graders are considered proficient readers.

"Nothing is more important that learning how to read," said Eugene Hickok, undersecretary for the department, because it affects all other areas of learning.

Jacob Elementary was chosen for yesterday's announcement because it uses Success for All, a research-based program that includes regular testing, teacher training and emphasizes phonics, language and vocabulary.

The school has posted below-average reading scores, and more than 80 percent of its students qualified for subsidized lunches. But it has shown improvement among fourth-graders in the past three years on the national Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, according to Jefferson County district data.

Officials observed several classrooms yesterday. In one, teacher Jennifer Matherly was using rapid-fire questioning and responses chanted in unison to teach the sound of a long "i" to first-graders.

Down the hall, reading teacher Michael Terry was conducting a "book club" where second and third-grade students gave reports on books such as "Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus." Students told officials they had learned concepts such as cause-and-effect and inference.

"I'm so impressed," Northup said, adding that use of the comprehensive approach that stresses phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension "makes a terrific difference."

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