by Kate Walsh

I hope that those partaking in the witch hunt targeting the federal Reading First program felt a bit chastened last Tuesday hearing this year's NAEP results. Steady, solid, and indeed impressive gains, particularly in closing the achievement gap. Children living in poverty have never scored as high. More than 32,000 more Hispanic children and 23,000 African American children are now reading proficiently who statistically were never expected to do so.

Results like these aren't produced by a typical government program that lets a thousand flowers bloom--no matter that they be dandelions or roses. I stand proudly to congratulate those responsible on a job well done. I realize that it would be too much to expect any gratitude from an excessively partisan Congress--now poised to gut the program's appropriations. And certainly too much to ask of a weak-kneed US Department of Education-- which threw Reading First to the wolves without a moment's hesitation. No matter. There's solid comfort in knowing that thousands of children, with the help of their teachers, have defied their projected trajectories and are now readers for life. That's government at its best--and rarest.