Educational policies designed to promote literacy achievement in U.S. schools over the past decade have failed to deliver the anticipated outcomes. These disappointing outcomes can be attributed to the implementation of evidence-free policies. In particular, policymakers have ignored the fact that underachievement is concentrated in schools…

Discusses three types of congruence--procedural, instructional, and philosophical--for compensatory educational programs. Asserts that most definitions of congruence are inadequate because they don't include all three aspects. Examines the practices used to operationalize congruence, and notes that conflicting perceptions of congruence may lead to…

Attempts to define what counted as policy documents and discourse during the three days of a Reading Leadership Academy, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. Presents a discourse and critical policy analysis of the Reading First initiative. Explores further the statements around what constituted good programs and, by inference, what…

Describes a collaboration among policy makers, test developers, curriculum specialists, researchers, and classroom teachers in Michigan that has produced a new interactive definition of reading, new statewide reading objectives, and efforts to develop statewide tests that are more consistent with current theory and research. (FL)