When we last left Reading First -- the Bush Administration's "education program," in which the Education Department "inappropriately influence[d] the use of certain programs and assessments" and "created an environment that allowed real and perceived conflicts of interest" -- the president was decrying the slashing of its FY 2008 budget by congressional appropriators. In March, at a Reading First program directors' meeting, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings implored the directors to "fight fiercely" for the program because "[]y]ou have seen the benefits of this program." And Tennessee Reading First director James Herman claimed that the program "has made so much of a difference in the lives of so many people." According to a report released Thursday by the Education Department that Reading First doesn't actually make a difference:

• On average, across the 18 participating sites, estimated impacts on student reading comprehension test scores were not statistically significant.
• Average impacts on reading comprehension and classroom instruction did not change systematically over time as sites gained experience with Reading First.