Still reinventing the wheel

One would have thought that from the time of the invention of cuneiform and thousands of years and stacks of research later, the question of effective reading instruction would have been settled. But no, millions of dollars are still flying out the window on newfangled schemes.

L.A. Unified's nearly $50-million Waterford computer system comes into question.
By Duke Helfand
Times Staff Writer

February 7, 2005

The Los Angeles Unified School District spent nearly $50 million on a computer reading program that failed to improve student reading skills and in some cases hindered achievement because schools did not use it properly, according to records and interviews.

The district bought the Waterford Early Reading Program four years ago to supplement language arts instruction in kindergarten and first-grade classrooms.

Supt. Roy Romer, calling Waterford "the Cadillac of all systems," promoted it as a promising new tool for raising test scores at low-performing elementary schools with large numbers of children who spoke limited English.