Bush Program on Reading Called Failure

WASHINGTON — From the beginning, President Bush's Reading First program has had problems — charges of conflicts of interest, bruising budget fights. Perhaps the worst of all: The Education Department says it doesn't work any better than approaches already in place. Democrats called yesterday for a new look at the $6 billion reading program after a federal study showed it had no special impact on reading comprehension. The program is at the heart of Mr. Bush's signature education law, No Child Left Behind. But there was no difference in comprehension scores between students who participated in Reading First and those who did not, says the new study from the Institute of Education Sciences.