This report chronicles the record of the Reading First program as a research-based approach to teaching children to read, from early successes as a strict program whose funding would be distributed to states and districts using reading curricula whose effectiveness had been validated by scientific study, to one of eased eligibility that permitted a wide venue of program selection, diluting the program from its intended purpose. To avoid such policy failures, the author concludes that, in judging the value of new political institutions or governmental programs, we should want to know not only whether they are run properly, guard against corruption and conflicts of interest, and come close to achieving their aims, but also what are the alternatives and what was it like before the institution in question was created. [Foreword by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Michael J. Petrilli. This report was produced by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.]