After several years of planning and a series of false starts, a new federal venture to review reading research has hit another bureaucratic hurdle--one that could keep it from ever getting off the ground. A planned announcement last week of the membership of the Commission on Reading Research was put on hold by the National Institute for Literacy…

The Ogden, Utah schools have used the mandates of the federal Reading First grant program to transform reading instruction and student achievement in low-performing schools. Reading First was approved by Congress in 2001 under the No Child Left Behind Act to bring scientifically based reading methods and materials to struggling schools. The $1…