69传媒

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A federal official gained significant financial benefit from a commercial reading program he wrote, which he actively promoted while serving as a high-level adviser to states during the implementation of the 69传媒 First program, a Senate report said last week.

The official, Edward J. Kame鈥檈nui, may have misrepresented those details when he testified under oath before a congressional committee last month, according to the preliminary results of a Senate education committee investigation.

Mr. Kame鈥檈nui, who is now serving as the commissioner for special education research at the U.S. Department of Education, had close ties to publishing companies that were competing for business among schools and districts participating in the $1 billion-a-year reading initiative, concludes the report. It was released May 9 by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Secretary Spellings鈥� , to George Miller, D-Calif., and other House and Senate education leaders, urging them to not let the investigation derail the committee鈥檚 work on reauthorization of NCLB.

At a House hearing on 69传媒 First and student loans last week, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said she was 鈥渄eeply concerned鈥� by the Senate report and was 鈥渧igorously鈥� investigating the allegations.

When asked after the May 10 hearing if she would ask for Mr. Kame鈥檈nui鈥檚 resignation, she answered, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know.鈥�

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said Mr. Kame鈥檈nui should resign.

鈥淗is testimony [of April 20] was less than candid 鈥� and the conflicts are there,鈥� Mr. Miller told reporters after last week鈥檚 hearing by his committee. The secretary shouldn鈥檛 鈥渒eep employing people who have acted on their conflicts contrary to the interests of the department,鈥� he said.

The Senate report describes the financial gains and contracts of Mr. Kame鈥檈nui and three other researchers who served as directors of the regional technical-assistance centers for 69传媒 First during the rollout of the 5-year-old program.

鈥淭he committee鈥檚 investigation revealed that four [technical-assistance-center directors] had substantial financial ties with various education publishers during the time they were under contract or subcontract with the department for the 69传媒 First program,鈥� the report says.

Last month, Sen. Kennedy issued formal requests for documents from a number of 69传媒 First contractors, including Douglas Carnine and Mr. Kame鈥檈nui from the University of Oregon, Joseph Torgesen of Florida State University, and Sharon Vaughn of the University of Texas at Austin. They served as directors of three regional technical-assistance centers that provided advice to states on meeting the grant program鈥檚 strict guidelines.

Outside income from publishing agreements 鈥渟oared鈥� for the researchers between 2001 and 2006 when they were serving as consultants to 69传媒 First, the report says, based on documents gathered by the Senate committee.

Lucrative Contracts

Income for Mr. Kame鈥檈nui and Ms. Vaughn, in particular, jumped significantly during implementation of 69传媒 First at a time when they provided advice to states on the kinds of texts and assessments that would meet the program鈥檚 requirements.

Between 2003 and 2006, for example, the Senate report says, Mr. Kame鈥檈nui earned some $150,000 a year or more in royalties and compensation from Pearson Scott Foresman, which publishes Early 69传媒 Intervention, a textbook he wrote with former University of Oregon professor Deborah C. Simmons. He also received consulting fees in excess of $100,000 total from his work designing Voyager Expanded Learning, a reading program that experienced rapid success over the past several years. He helped Ms. Vaughn secure contracts with Scott Foresman and Best Associates, which published the Voyager program, that have earned her some $500,000 in royalties since 2001, according to the report.

Those agreements had nothing to do with her work on 69传媒 First, Ms. Vaughn said in an interview, and had been vetted for possible conflicts of interest by University of Texas officials.

Mr. Carnine has also drawn considerable profits from the sale of textbooks he has written, about $750,000. But the textbooks are primarily for the college market and in other subject areas.

Mr. Torgesen was also on contract as a member of the Voyager design team, but he wrote in a 2003 e-mail to his colleagues that he was resigning because of his concerns that the arrangement posed a conflict of interest with his other work. At the time, he was the director of the Eastern regional-assistance center at Florida State. In a statement, Mr. Torgesen said that he received relatively small amounts of royalty income鈥攕tipends of $1,000 to $3,000 and then $20,000 from Voyager, coming to about $50,000 over five years鈥攆rom his publishing contracts.

Mr. Kame鈥檈nui is on leave from the University of Oregon while he serves as the commissioner of the National Center for Special Education Research, an arm of the Department of Education. He testified at a contentious hearing before the House education committee April 20 that there were no 鈥渞eal conflicts of interest鈥� among him and his colleagues who served as advisers on 69传媒 First. (鈥淗ouse Panel Grills Witnesses on 69传媒 First,鈥� April 25, 2007.)

He told the House panel that he had never promoted his reading text, but the Senate report documents numerous occasions on which he spoke at conferences and training events at the request of the publisher.

He also said in his testimony that he had not known that his textbook was being packaged with a reading assessment that is widely used in 69传媒 First schools. The Senate report, however, includes excerpts from e-mails in which he discusses the possibility of marketing the two products together.

The Education Department would not make Mr. Kame鈥檈nui available for response last week.

鈥淭he Department is deeply concerned about conflicts of interest and takes the allegations contained in Senator Kennedy鈥檚 report very seriously,鈥� Education Department spokeswoman Katherine McKlane said in a statement. 鈥淲e are studying this report to determine if further actions are necessary and will act aggressively if any wrongdoing is found.鈥�

Oversight Failures鈥�

At last week鈥檚 hearing, House Republicans lauded Secretary Spelling for making administrative changes to the 69传媒 First program that the Education Department鈥檚 inspector general recommended in a report last fall.

鈥淲e all are in agreement that 69传媒 First is a successful and worthy program,鈥� Rep. Howard P. 鈥淏uck鈥� McKeon of California, the senior Republican member of the panel, said in his opening statement. 鈥淣ow, we must take the initiative to change the law accordingly to ensure past instances of mismanagement never repeat themselves again.鈥�

But Chairman Miller had harsh words for the department鈥檚 management of the reading initiative, as well as the federal student-loan program, which was the main focus of questions addressed to the secretary during the House hearing.

鈥淲hen I look at the whole body of evidence that has been amassed about both the student-loan and 69传媒 First programs, it is clear that鈥攁t a minimum鈥攖he Education Department鈥檚 oversight failures have been monumental,鈥� Rep. Miller said.

The initiative to improve reading instruction in the nation鈥檚 low-performing schools鈥攁dopted as part of the No Child Left Behind Act鈥攈as come under growing scrutiny since the release of a series of reports suggesting that federal officials and their consultants appeared to favor some commercial reading programs over others and may have overstepped legal prohibitions against federal influence on state and local decisionmaking on curriculum issues.