[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 86 (Thursday, June 19, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6002-S6003]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. COCHRAN:
  S. 939. A bill to establish a National Panel on Early Reading 
Research and Effective Reading Instruction; to the Committee on Labor 
and Human Resources.


          THE SUCCESSFUL READING RESEARCH AND INSTRUCTION ACT

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, today, I am introducing the Successful 
Reading Research and Instruction Act. It establishes a panel that will 
include parents, scientists, and educators to conduct a study of the 
research relevant to reading development and advise the Congress of its 
recommendations for disseminating its findings and instruction 
suggestions to those who would like to have them.
  Reading is the skill students must master to meet life challenges in 
a confident and successful manner. For a child, breaking the code of 
written language not only opens academic opportunities; it is a 
cornerstone to building high self esteem. Both reading and self esteem 
affect the knowledge and experiences that form a child's character and 
future.
  Teaching children to read is the highest priority in education today. 
Many teachers and parents I've talked with are frustrated and confused 
about what method of reading instruction is best. Every American should 
be concerned that 40 to 60 percent of elementary school children are 
not reading proficiently. Even more disturbing is research that shows 
fewer than one child in eight who is failing to read by the end of 
first grade ever catches up to grade level.
  Success in reading is essential if one is to progress socially and 
economically. In fact, most of the federally funded literacy programs 
are targeted to helping adults learn to read because the education 
system failed them, and more than likely, failed them at an early age.
  This indicates that we need to start solving the problem of poor 
readers at the beginning, instead of working backward. It seems to me 
that the first step to finding a solution is to seriously analyze 
sound, rigorous research on the subject.
  Mr. President, at a hearing on April 16, of the Senate Appropriations 
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, I 
brought to the attention of the Secretary of Education, Richard Riley, 
research by the National Institute of Child Health and Human 
Development mandated by the Health Research Extension Act of 1985, and 
asked that he use such research in the development of federally 
supported reading programs. This research is ongoing, in a 
collaborative network with multidisciplinary research programs to study 
genetics, brain pathology, developmental process and phonetic 
acquisition. NICHD has spent over $100 million over the past 15 years, 
and has studied approximately ten thousand children.

  On June 11 of this year, when officials from the National Institutes 
of Health came before the same appropriations subcommittee, I asked Dr. 
Duane Alexander, the Director of NICHD, about this study. Dr. 
Alexander's testimony about the research confirmed what I suspect most 
teachers already know--at least 20 percent of children have difficulty 
learning to read. But the research also suggests that 90 to 95 percent 
of these can be brought up to average reading level.
  As a result of this research, techniques for early identification of 
those with reading problems and intervention strategies are now known. 
But administrators, teachers, tutors and parents are not aware of the 
key principles of effective reading instruction. The NICHD findings 
underscore the need to do a better job of teacher training, as 
researchers found fewer than 10 percent of teachers actually know how 
to teach reading to children who don't learn reading automatically.
  I am surprised that the Department of Education hasn't looked to this 
study and found a way to effectively get the information to teachers, 
schools, parents, and most importantly, teacher colleges.
  What scientists have learned from their studies of reading hasn't 
been passed on to the teachers who are teaching, so parents are telling 
us their kids aren't reading. It is time we put all this experience 
together; come up with suggestions for dealing with the problems and, 
if schools, teachers, parents or higher education institutions want the 
information, let's make it available.
  This is a proposal to develop answers that are based on scientific, 
model based research. I think it can be a helpful beginning for 
successful reading instruction.
  I ask unanimous consent that a copy of Dr. Duane Alexander's 
testimony and a copy of my bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 939

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Successful Reading Research 
     and Instruction Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) At least 20 percent, and in some States 50 to 60 
     percent, of children in elementary school cannot read at 
     basic levels. The children cannot read fluently and do not 
     understand what they read.
       (2) Research suggests that the majority of the children, at 
     least 90 to 95 percent, can be brought up to average reading 
     skills if--
       (A) children at risk for reading failure are identified 
     during the kindergarten and first grade years; and
       (B) early intervention programs that combine instruction in 
     phonological awareness, phonics, and reading comprehension 
     are provided by well-trained teachers.
       (3) If the early intervention programs described in 
     paragraph (2)(B) are delayed until the children reach 9 years 
     of age (the time that most children are identified), 
     approximately 75 percent of the children will continue to 
     have reading difficulties through high school.
       (4) While older children and adults can be taught to read, 
     the time and expense of doing so is enormous.
       (b) Purpose.--The purposes of this Act are--
       (1) to conduct an assessment of research and knowledge 
     relevant to early reading development, and instruction in 
     early reading, to determine the readiness of the research and 
     knowledge for application in the Nation's classrooms; and
       (2) if appropriate, to develop a national strategy for the 
     rapid dissemination of the research and knowledge to teachers 
     and schools throughout the United States as a means of 
     facilitating effective early reading instruction; and
       (3) to develop a plan for additional research regarding 
     early reading development, and instruction in early reading, 
     if the additional research is warranted.

     SEC. 3. NATIONAL PANEL.

       (a) In General.--The Secretary of Education, or the 
     Secretary's designee, and the Director of the National 
     Institute of Child Health and Human Development, or the 
     Director's designee, jointly shall--
       (1) establish a National Panel on Early Reading Research 
     and Effective Reading Instruction;
       (2) establish the membership of the panel in accordance 
     with subsection (b);
       (3) select a chairperson of the panel;
       (4) provide the staff and support necessary for the panel 
     to carry out the panel's duties; and
       (5) prepare and submit to Congress a report regarding the 
     findings and recommendations of the panel.
       (b) Membership.--The panel shall be composed of 15 
     individuals, who are not officers

[[Page S6003]]

     or employees of the Federal Government. The panel shall 
     include leading scientists in reading research, 
     representatives of colleges of education, reading teachers, 
     educational administrators, and parents.
       (c) Duties.--The panel shall--
       (1) conduct a thorough study of the research and knowledge 
     relevant to early reading development, and instruction in 
     early reading, including research described in section 9 of 
     the Health Research Extension Act of 1985 (42 U.S.C. 281 
     note);
       (2) determine which research findings and what knowledge 
     are available for application in the Nation's classrooms; and
       (3) determine how to disseminate the research findings and 
     knowledge to the Nation's schools and classrooms.
       (d) Termination.--The panel shall terminate 9 months after 
     the date of enactment of this Act.
                                  ____


                    Testimony of Dr. Duane Alexander

       Thank you Senator Cochran:
       I think that it is important to point out that our 
     intensive research efforts in reading development and 
     disorders is motivated to a great extent by our seeing 
     difficulties learning to read as not only an educational 
     problem, but also a major public health issue. Simply put, if 
     a youngster does not learn to read, he or she will simply not 
     likely to make it in life. Our longitudinal studies that 
     study children from age five through their high school years 
     have shown us how tender these kids are with respect to their 
     own response to reading failure. By the end of the first 
     grade, we begin to notice substantial decreases in the 
     children's self-esteem, self-concept, and motivation to learn 
     to read if they have not been able to master reading skills 
     and keep up with their age-mates. As we follow them through 
     elementary and middle school these problems compound, and in 
     many cases very bright youngsters are deprived of the wonders 
     of literature, history, science, and mathematics because they 
     can not read the grade-level textbooks. By high school, these 
     children's potential for entering college has decreased to 
     almost nil, with few choices available to them with respect 
     to occupational and vocational opportunities.
       In studying approximately 10 thousand children over the 
     past 15 years, we have learned the following:
       (1) At least 20%, and in some states 50 to 60%, of children 
     in the elementary grades can not read at basic levels. They 
     can not read fluently and they do not understand what they 
     read.
       (2) However, the majority of these children--at least 90 to 
     95%--can be brought up to average reading skills IF:
       (A) children at-risk for reading failure are identified 
     during the kindergarten and first grade years and,
       (B) early intervention programs that combine instruction in 
     phonological awareness, phonics, and reading comprehension 
     are provided by well trained teachers. If we delay 
     intervention until nine-years-of-age (the time that most 
     children are currently identified), approximately 75% of the 
     children will continue to have reading difficulties through 
     high school. While older children and adults CAN be taught to 
     read, the time and expense of doing so is enormous.
       (3) We have learned that phonological awareness--the 
     understanding that words are made up of sound segments called 
     phonemes--plans a casual role in reading acquisition, and 
     that it is a good predictor because it is a foundational 
     ability underlying basic reading skills.
       (4) We have learned how to measure phonological skills as 
     early as the beginning of kindergarten with tasks that take 
     only 15 minutes to administer--and over the past decade we 
     have refined these tasks so that we can predict with 92% 
     accuracy who will have difficulties learning to read.
       (5) The average cost of assessing each child during 
     kindergarten or first grade with the predictive measures is 
     between $15 to $20 depending upon the skill level of the 
     person conducting the assessment. This includes the costs of 
     the assessment materials. If applied on a larger scale, 
     these costs may be further decreased.
       (6) We have learned that just as many girls as boys have 
     difficulties learning to read. The conventional wisdom has 
     been that many more boys than girls have such difficulties. 
     Now females should have equal access to screening and 
     intervention programs.
       (7) We have begun to understand how genetics are involved 
     in learning to read, and this knowledge may ultimately 
     contribute to our prevention efforts through assessment of 
     family reading histories.
       (8) We are entering very exciting frontiers in 
     understanding how early brain development can provide us a 
     window on how reading develops. Likewise, we are conducting 
     studies to help us understand how specific teaching methods 
     change reading behavior and how the brain changes as reading 
     develops.
       (9) Very importantly, we continue to find that teaching 
     approaches that specifically target the development of a 
     combination of phonological skills, phonics skills, and 
     reading comprehension skills in an integrated format are the 
     most effective ways to improve reading abilities.
       At the present time, we have held several meetings with 
     officials from the USDOE and have discussed how these 
     findings can be used across the two agencies. As an example 
     of this collaboration, NICHD and USDOE have been developing a 
     preliminary plan to determine which scientific findings are 
     ready for immediate application in the classroom and how to 
     best disseminate that information to the Nation's schools and 
     teachers.
                                 ______