A federal contractor overseeing states’ implementation of the $1 billion-a-year Reading First program did not take appropriate steps to prevent conflict of interest among its staff members and subcontractors, and may have inappropriately guided at least two states toward adopting a specific reading assessment…. The RMC Research Corp., the primary contractor for the reading initiative, did not include the required conflict-of-interest clause in agreements with subcontractors, a number of whom had ties to commercial publishers and products. Moreover, RMC representatives inappropriately advised states to use product reviews conducted by centers associated with Reading First consultants to inform their decisions about textbooks, fueling perceptions that a federally approved list of commercial products existed…..

U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the chairman of the Senate education committee…. has requested correspondence and contracts between several consultants and RMC, the White House, the Education Department, and other federal entities.

The Portsmouth, N.H.-based RMC received three Reading First contracts, the first two—worth about $3.7 million—for providing early technical assistance to states in drafting and revising their grant proposals. The third, worth $37 million over five years, went toward the creation of the national technical-assistance center for Reading First….

The research and consulting firm subcontracted with Florida State University, the University of Oregon, and the University of Texas at Austin to house regional centers for helping states implement their plans…. The directors of those centers had served as advisers to the Education Department on the rollout of Reading First. Those researchers—Edward J. Kame’enui, Joseph Torgesen, and Sharon Vaughn—each had contracts with publishers while they advised states in selecting programs and assessments for use in participating schools….. Other consultants and grant reviewers were associated with the centers as well. In at least two states, officials complained that an RMC consultant who was a paid trainer for the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, or DIBELS, was pressuring them to adopt that assessment, the report says….

Critics of the implementation process say the reports raise questions about whether the problems in the program were mistakes or if the heavy reliance on contractors was to avoid accountability….. “Everyone should be concerned about the possibility that the department used RMC’s consultant status to circumvent conflict-of-interest laws,” contended Jady Johnson, the president of the Reading Recovery Council of North America….

“The pattern across all the inspector general’s reports is a recurring theme of conflict of interest,” said Alan E. Farstrup, the executive director of the Newark, Del.-based International Reading Association.…

Kathleen Kennedy Manzo, Education Week, March 14.