New provincial legislation aims to ensure every young learner receives early reading screenings in an effort to identify and address potential reading difficulties.
The provincial government has passed Bill 225 — the Public Schools Amendment Act (Universal Screening for Learning Disabilities), which creates a universal early reading screening framework that applies to all students in kindergarten to Grade 4. The early reading screenings will use standardized evidence-based tools to meet established criteria. Students will get two screenings per year in at least three of the five early years to identify students at risk of future reading difficulties including dyslexia.
Parents will receive communication through report cards on their child’s progress. For students who are identified as needing extra help, they will receive ongoing supports and progress monitoring.
“We know parents and teachers want kids to excel in school. We supported and strengthened Bill 225 to focus squarely on early reading, which is the foundation of all future learning,” said Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt.
“By acting early, we can support students before reading difficulties become learning barriers. This bill will ensure educators have the right tools and families have the right information to help children thrive.”
In the Interlake School Division (ISD), a research-based screening program has already been in place since 2020. The division’s early literacy program starts with screening but also includes targeted instruction in structured literacy for all students based on the screening results.
ISD uses the Early Years Evaluation (EYE) screening tool with all kindergarten students, which tests school-readiness parameters and is also a good indicator of reading readiness. In addition, ISD uses the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) program to screen students in kindergarten to Grade 4.
Colony schools also participate in the same early literacy program, but the kindergarten EYE screening tool is delayed slightly to allow time for colony students to learn English prior to screening.
The screening tools generate data that the division monitors, and ISD has already seen improvement since it was implemented five years ago. The school division also collects report card marks and provincial literacy assessments to monitor the progress in early literacy.
Teachers attend workshops during professional development days to learn how to implement this program. As well, new ISD teachers receive an introduction to the early literacy program at the start of the school year. Detailed instructions about ISD’s early literacy program are posted on an internal website for all staff to access.
In addition, ISD has allocated staffing in the form of early literacy co-teachers who spend 30 minutes each day in every Grade 1 classroom to help with early literacy screening and teaching. The early literacy co-teachers meet regularly with a divisional literacy support teacher, who also visits schools to support teachers.
This year in the Interlake School Division, there are 1,050 students in kindergarten to Grade 4, all of whom will be screened. In Grade 1, the early literacy co-teacher and classroom teacher share the work of the screenings. In other grades, classroom teachers do the screenings.
Across the Interlake School Division, all students receive structured literacy instruction. These lessons are based on research-based literacy instructional programs and include small group instruction to meet students’ diverse needs. In a small number of cases, the learning support teacher might pull out a student to provide individualized instruction. However, the majority of students receive reading instruction in the classroom.
Some students take a bit more time to achieve the goal of reading at grade level. ISD’s early literacy program helps to identify these students early in their schooling, which allows teachers to tailor instruction to meet their needs.
Details are still forthcoming regarding the new provincial government regulations. Supt. Margaret Ward said ISD will closely examine the new regulations to ensure the division’s existing program is compliant but expects that few modifications, if any, will be needed.
“We are very pleased with the success our youngest students have been experiencing in our early literacy program,” she said, “which is designed to close learning gaps wherever they occur in the Interlake School Division.”
