ABSTRACT

The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, now entitled No Child Left Behind (NCLB), ushered in comprehensive legislation aimed at significantly altering the way our nation’s children are taught to read. Although the focus of concern centers on our children, and rightly so, a closer look at workings behind the public view is essential to an understanding of how this legislation was crafted and implemented in ways that will ultimately lead to the failure of many of our children. Just outside of the public eye, and somewhat removed from the media spotlight, specific groups of people profit in multiple ways from this legislative agenda. Who are these groups and in what ways do they profit? Myriad answers apply to this question. However, research into the proponents of the “scientifically based” reading instruction movement in particular yields interesting patterns.