More Resources Grant to Marquette Univ. Grant to Des Moines

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced the award of over $106 million in Early Reading First grants to 31 recipients in 19 states and Washington, D.C., to improve the language and early literacy skills of young children.

"Early Reading First and Reading First have helped to crack the code and prove what strategies are most effective in helping kids learn to read well," said Secretary Spellings. "These programs are lifelines for many of our nation's most vulnerable children and families, and one thing we know for certain is that these students do not need less time and fewer proven strategies. Congress must restore the full $1 billion appropriation for Reading First, so that more children can benefit from these programs."

Early Reading First supports the development of early childhood centers of excellence that ensure low-income children have the early language, cognitive and pre-reading skills that prepare them for continued school success. These grant funds are used to improve the use of instructional materials and teaching strategies through scientifically proven practices. Early Reading First programs focus on language, cognition and early reading so that young children enter kindergarten with the oral language, phonological awareness, print awareness and knowledge of the alphabet necessary to begin to learn how to read.

Reading First funds professional development; scientifically based instructional programs, materials and strategies; valid and reliable screening; diagnostic and ongoing classroom assessments; and statewide accountability and leadership structures. Reading First is designed to help needy students in grades K-3, while Early Reading First helps preschool age children. Under No Child Left Behind, state educational agencies have received over $6 billion in Reading First grants. President Bush's proposed budget for FY 2009 includes $1 billion for Reading First. Earlier this year, Congress indicated their refusal to provide additional funding for this important program in their 2009 funding bill.

For more information about Early Reading First, please visit http://www.ed.gov/programs/earlyreading/index.html.

For more information about Reading First, please visit http://www.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst/index.html

For a fact sheet on Reading First, please visit http://www.ed.gov/nclb/methods/reading/readingfirst.html

A complete list of the grantees follows:

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