WASHINGTON – The $6 billion reading program at the center of President Bush’s signature education law has failed to make a difference in how well children understand what they read, according to a study by the program’s own champion – the U.S. Department of Education.

The program, Reading First, was designed to help boost student performance in low-income elementary schools, but failed to improve reading comprehension, says the study from the Institute of Education Sciences, part of the Education Department.

There was no difference in comprehension scores between students who participated in Reading First and those who did not, the study found.

The findings released last week threw the program’s future into doubt.

“We need to seriously re-examine this program and figure out how to make it work better for students,” said California Democratic Rep. George Miller, chairman of the House education committee.

Reading First was created as part of the 2002 No Child Left Behind law, which aims to get all children doing math and reading at their proper grade level. President Bush and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings have championed the reading program as an important part of the law.

Institute director Russ Whitehurst said the study focused on reading comprehension rather than other aspects of reading such as whether children grasp phonics, because comprehension is the ultimate goal when teaching reading.

The study did find Reading First led to more time being spent by teachers on aspects of reading judged to be important by a federal reading panel.

The study also found that among schools participating in Reading First, higher levels of funding led to some improvement in scores.

Congress recently cut funding to the program – over Bush’s objections – due to budget constraints and controversies surrounding it.

“It’s no surprise that Reading First has been a failure,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., who led the fight to cut the program’s budget following reports about management problems and potential conflicts of interest in the program.