Reading First audit faults UO officials.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

A final audit report assessing the federal Reading First program found apparent conflicts of interest among almost a dozen current and former officials, including several at the University of Oregon.

The report also found that the company that helps administer the reading program, which has an annual budget of almost $1 billion, failed to include standard language in its contracts addressing conflicts of interest and did not review consultants or subcontractors for possible conflicts. The UO's College of Education is one of the subcontractors.

However, the audit does not suggest that anyone involved in the Reading First program was unjustly enriched or improperly influenced school districts or states to use materials in which they had a financial interest. No disciplinary action was recommended.

Michael Bullis, dean of the College of Education, was not in his office Friday. No one else from the college was available to comment.

UO spokesman Phil Weiler said the university was reviewing the report and said it is committed to carrying out its recommendations.

The UO became entangled in the audit because it houses one of three regional centers that provide technical assistance to states and school districts seeking federal funds under the Reading First program, which is part of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act. Reading First grants are used to improve reading instruction in kindergarten through third grade in low-income schools.

No schools in Lane County participate in the Reading First program or receive the federal grants.

The latest audit report, expected to be the last in a series of six such reports, focuses on the regional centers and the national technical assistance center, operated by RMS Research Corp. in New Hampshire. The other two regional centers are based at the University of Texas at Austin and Florida State University in Tallahassee.

The UO has said it expects to receive $48.4 million in federal funding over six years to operate the regional assistance center.

Federal law does not require that subcontractors or consultants be screened for bias or impaired objectivity. But primary contractors do have to take such actions, and the Reading First subcontracts required compliance with the primary contract.

The rules are in place to ensure that federal programs do not endorse particular products. With Reading First, the concern was that some people who had authored materials used in reading programs also were involved in helping school districts choose which materials to use and could benefit financially from those decisions.

In all, the report lists 11 people by job title who had apparent conflicts of interest due to a relationship with a publisher that provided materials purchased by schools for their reading programs or developed products used in those programs. None of the people are named.

People at the UO included on the list are the current and former directors of the regional center and four consultants. The directors both published college-level textbooks on reading instruction but not material used to teach reading.

The UO center originally was directed by education professor Ed Kame'enui, who is on leave from the university to work for the federal education department. The current director is Kathryn Howe.

The four consultants, plus a fifth at the national center, had conflicts because they also were paid trainers who taught schools how to use a reading test known as DIBELS, Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. The assessment, used to monitor student progress, was developed by two UO researchers, one of whom was one of the consultants.

According to the report, two state officials complained they felt pressured by a consultant to adopt the DIBELS test. The consultant is not named but does not appear to be one employed at the UO.

The audit said perceptions of bias regarding reading programs or products dogged Reading First since 2002, early in its development. It said RMS did not adequately address the issue.

In response, RMS largely agreed with the audit's conclusions and said it has taken steps to put conflict of interest rules in place. It also has amended its subcontracts to include federal language on conflicts.

But the company noted that it submitted the resumes of all regional assistance center staff members to the education department for approval and that their work developing reading materials was well known to the department. It said the department never informed the company of any concerns regarding conflicts of interest or possible bias.

The audits were conducted by the Department of Education inspector general's office. A separate investigation is being conducted by the Government Accountability Office, and several lawmakers also have indicated they want to look into the Reading First program.