Border Land School Division is committed to the early identification of potential learning difficulties, including reading difficulties. Early identification of reading difficulties occurs through evidence-based Universal Early Reading Screening for students in kindergarten to grade four in BLSD. The results of screening are used to plan instruction that meets the needs of all students through classroom instruction and responsive supplementary instruction.
Principles of Early Reading Screening
Early reading screening involves the use of evidence-based tools to identify students who may face future reading challenges. Early reading screening provides a quick check of early literacy skills for all students, not a full diagnostic assessment to diagnose reading disabilities or a single predicator of reading success or failure.
Effective tools assess foundational reading skills, offer reliable and valid results, and provide immediate data to inform instructional decisions. Foundational skills include: letter knowledge (names/sounds), phonemic awareness (the ability to hear and manipulate sounds), decoding (phonics and letter/sound relationships), fluency (accuracy and speed in reading), vocabulary (word knowledge), and comprehension.
Early reading screening is a tool to help guide differentiated instruction and targeted intervention decisions. It is not a comprehensive measure of comprehension, writing ability or a replacement for teacher observation and classroom assessment. Early reading screening is to flag and focus direct instruction. Progress monitoring is vital to ensure instruction is responsive to student learning needs.
Early reading screening does not replace classroom-based assessment that reflects how well a student is achieving curricular learning expectations, including assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and assessment as learning.
Evidence-Based Tools
The early reading screening tools used in BLSD meet the criteria established by the Minister of Education. Screening tools focus on specific, developmentally appropriate early reading skills.
Screening tools that must be used uniformly and consistently across all schools include:
- Early Years Assessment-Teacher Assessment (EYE-TA) in Kindergarten (5 developmental domains)
- Acadience IDAPEL in Kindergarten to Grade 2 in the French Immersion Program
- Amira ISIP Assess in Grades 1 to 4 in the English Program
Screening Guidelines
Early reading screening tools must be used uniformly and consistently across all schools within BLSD. Screening must occur in consideration of language of instruction. Teachers must implement screeners and progress monitoring according to the screener’s administration manuals and training materials to ensure reliability and validity of results. If a child is identified as having reading difficulties, their progress must be monitored and they must receive supplementary literacy instruction.
Students in French Immersion must receive screening for their reading in French, where possible. Implementation of screeners must be done in consideration of diverse learning needs, including ASL, and English as an Additional Language learners.
A student who has an individualized education plan (IEP) is not required to receive early reading screening if, under the plan, it is not reasonable to expect the pupil to meet or approximate the applicable benchmark related to reading.
Parents/guardians play a crucial role in supporting student learning. Schools are expected to communicate to parents the screening practices that are taking place, including the specific skills their child will be assessed on, and how these screenings will support their child’s reading development prior to screening occurring.
The results of early reading screening must be communicated to parents/guardians at the next reporting period.
Kindergarten Screening
Each student in Kindergarten receives screening in five developmental domains of school readiness that are predictive of future reading difficulties through the Early Years Evaluation (EYE-TA). The EYE-TA is not an early reading screener.
The results of the EYE are reported to parents in Term 1 and Term 3. Teachers use the information from the EYE to provide responsive classroom instruction, and to plan for targeted supplementary classroom instruction and supplementary small-group instruction in Smart Start. Smart Start provides 20 half days of supplementary instruction for students who may be at risk of future learning difficulties.
Teachers may use the EYE-PR (Early Years Evaluation – Pre-Reading) to screen pre-reading skills in Kindergarten during Term 2 to use the information from early reading screening to provide responsive, supplementary classroom instruction, including targeted supplementary instruction through Smart Start.
Screening in French Immersion
Universal reading screening will occur twice per year, in Term 1 and Term 2, in the language of instruction from Kindergarten through Grade two. Students in the French Immersion program may also have their reading screened in English, in Terms 1 and 2, from Grades 1 through 4.
Teachers must provide the results of screening at the next reporting period.
Students who are identified as having reading difficulties must have their progress monitored and receive appropriate educational programming.
Screening in the English Program
Each student in Grades one through three must be screened twice per year, in Term 1 and Term 2. Each student in Grade four must be screened in term 1, with Term 2 screening and on-going progress monitoring for students who are identified as having reading difficulties.
Teachers must provide the results of each screening on the next report card.
Students who are identified as having reading difficulties must have their progress monitored and receive appropriate educational programming.
Appropriate Educational Programming
In BLSD, appropriate educational programming includes:
Tier 1: Differentiated Classroom Instruction
Tier 2: Supplementary Instruction
Tier 3: Intensive Individualized Support
Appropriate educational programming is determined through progress monitoring with responsive supplementary instruction. Responsive supplementary instruction and progress monitoring may lead to specialized assessment and student specific planning by the student support team.
Schools must inform parents about early screening practices and results, using clear, parent-friendly language. Regular updates and discussions on student progress are expected for students who are identified as having reading difficulties. This includes providing clear explanations of students’ strengths and areas for improvement, discussing classroom strategies and potential supports, sharing examples of growth and progress over time, and outlining plans for ongoing monitoring and communication. Teachers should also help parents and guardians understand how they can support learning at home.
School teams must review their data from screenings, including teachers, administrators, resource teachers, and literacy support teachers, to develop appropriate support plans. Collaboration is essential to provide comprehensive support for student literacy development, and for effective allocation of resources (staffing, professional learning, coaching support).
Teachers are responsible to engage in ongoing professional development to gain the knowledge and skills to meet the learning needs of all their students in their classroom literacy instruction, to implement inclusive and universally designed practices that are responsive to their students’ strengths and needs as early readers.
BLSD provides job-embedded, ongoing professional learning opportunities for staff that are responsive to the needs and the abilities of BLSD students through Instructional Coaching, including classroom-based coaching and professional development.
Screening data and formative assessment data are used to create a class profile that identifies the strengths and needs of the class, and to identify goals for classroom instruction (Tier 1), to identify students in need of supplementary literacy instruction in a small group or one-on-one (Tier 2), and to identify students in need of student-specific planning (SSP) by a student support team, including parents and clinicians (Tier 3).
Tier 1
The diversity of student populations demands that teachers use a variety of instructional approaches, rather than a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Teachers need to plan actively for appropriate educational programming that enhances the full participation of all students in the classroom. Teachers must use the results of universal reading screening, along with classroom-based assessment, to plan literacy instruction that is responsive to all students’ reading development.
Classroom instruction should be guided by the principles of Differentiated Instruction and Universal Design for Learning, that are informed by students’ learning strengths, growth, and needs, including:
- A core belief that all students can learn to read and write.
- Instruction for all students that is evidence-based.
- Predictable schedules and classroom routines to support students’ engagement in focused reading instruction
- Lessons that follow the ELA Curriculum’s Literacy Progressions for Reading, in the language of instruction
- Systematic and explicit instruction of targeted foundational reading skills from the ELA/FLA curriculum, including:
- Phonemic awareness
- Phonics
- Fluency
- Vocabulary
- Comprehension
- Multiple opportunities for small-group instruction and teacher feedback
- Use of formative assessment to provide responsive, supplementary instruction in the context of small group or individual instruction
- Use of progress monitoring and formative assessment data to adjust the intensity of reading instruction, based on student progress or ongoing difficulty
- Independent practice for students who can practice the skill correctly
- Authentic literacy learning experiences for all students; and
- Providing students with timely, specific & descriptive feedback
- Capitalizing on language transfer between a students’ home language and the language of instruction
The development of skills and knowledge in reading is often enhanced by explicit vocabulary instruction within subject areas. It is important to recognize that the integration of rich language and literacy experiences can deepen conceptual understanding.
Tier 2
Progress monitoring data and formative assessment must be used to plan supplementary (in addition to classroom instruction) reading instruction for students who are not meeting screening benchmarks and who are continuing to experience reading difficulties with targeted, focused additional classroom instruction. Increased progress monitoring and communication with parents/guardians is expected for students who are experiencing reading difficulties.
Tier 2 instruction provides more intensive, focused, small-group instruction by the classroom teacher, in addition to Tier 1 instruction. Teachers are expected to use formative assessment and screening data to plan 30 cumulative minutes of daily, targeted, supplementary instruction over a six week period, based on the strengths and needs of the students.
Within the school team, screening data must be used to identify students who are in need of Tier 2 instruction in the context of the class profile. The teacher designs a supplementary literacy instruction teaching action plan, drawing on the support of their team as needed. They collect the needed resources and intentionally plan time for targeted reading lessons in addition to classroom literacy instruction. Teachers must monitor students’ progress and adjust their teaching plans for supplementary instruction based on progress monitoring data. Targeted, supplementary literacy instruction must be provided for all students who are not meeting benchmarks to accelerate their learning and support their growth.
Collaboration between the classroom teacher, resource teacher or literacy support teacher, school administrator, and literacy coach is crucial at all stages of intervention: engaging in collaboration that supports responsive instruction, in making decisions about how to provide supplementary instruction for all students not meeting benchmarks, planning for intervention, implementing evidence-based practices, monitoring progress, and problem-solving barriers to effective intervention.
Supplementary instruction is best provided by the classroom teacher, who is in the best position to implement and reinforce targeted instruction throughout the day. Resource Teachers or Literacy Support teachers may support classroom teachers through co-planning instruction that is responsive to the individual needs of students, progress monitoring, and co-teaching to provide Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction that is responsive to students’ strengths, needs, and goals.
Tier 3
Tier 3 instruction provides the most intensive, individual or small-group support, in addition to Tier 1 and 2 instruction, for students who have either a number of difficulties, a considerable degree of difficulties, and/or persistent difficulties in foundational reading skills, as identified through screening and classroom-based assessment, despite responsive, supplementary instruction in Tiers 1 and 2.
During Tier 3 intervention, students receive more frequent, intensive intervention that is individualized to assessed needs. It is delivered daily in small groups ranging from 1 to 3 students per group. Intervention at this level is highly focused tailored to the assessed needs of each student and typically uses research-based practices that may be different from classroom reading instruction. Intervention at Tier 3 is delivered by a teacher who has extensive knowledge and expertise in teaching reading.
When students are receiving Tier 3 pull-out instruction by a literacy support teacher with specialized training and skills, parents must be informed of the change to the students’ daily schedule, of the goals of the intervention and must be informed of students’ progress.
Collaboration between the intervention teacher and classroom teacher is expected to ensure that the classroom teacher can reinforce the pull-out instruction in the context of classroom instruction.
Because students at this tier have made minimal gains in the past, the need for frequent and regular progress monitoring increases during this tier. In cases where students receiving Tier 3 support continue to experience reading difficulties, school teams will work collaboratively to determine additional supports that are required, based on more frequent progress monitoring. If more frequent progress monitoring is not demonstrating that learning gaps are decreasing and that current approaches are accelerating learning, school teams should review relevant data, share observations, consult with clinicians and collaborate with parents to make programming decisions that would best support growth for the student.
Professional Learning
Staff in Manitoba must meet the diverse needs of all students. Teachers and other professionals have a responsibility to engage in ongoing professional development (Education Administration Act, M.R. 468/88).
BLSD provides on-going, job-embedded professional learning opportunities to respond to teachers’ learning needs and to build capacity to address the needs and abilities of all students in their growth as readers. This support is provided through the BLSD Joint PD Committee’s plan for divisional PD, through professional learning with BLSD Instructional Coaches, through classroom-based coaching, through on-going collaboration and consultation within school teams, and through the professional growth plan and individual PD.
Teachers who are new to teaching reading in grades 1 to 4 in BLSD are expected to participate in professional learning with the BLSD Literacy Coach for supplementary literacy instruction, which includes small group professional development, one-on-one support from the literacy coach to use formative and screening data to create a class profile and action plan, and follow-up classroom-based support.
Kindergarten teachers in BLSD are expected to participate in divisional Kindergarten/Smart Start days, in support of their planning for supplementary instruction.
Teachers who are experienced in teaching reading in grades 1 to 4 in BLSD are expected to participate in a minimum of one day of professional learning within the division or a residency or instructional coaching cycle with a literacy coach. Divisional literacy PD is responsive to the strengths and needs of students, as demonstrated in divisional data and teaching action plans, and to the learning needs of teachers to provide responsive classroom instruction in Tiers 1 and 2.
Roles and Responsibilities
Border Land School Division
BLSD will be responsible for:
- Establishing processes and practices for students in Kindergarten to Grade 4 to be screened for early reading, using an evidence-based, department-approved screening tool.
- Establishing processes and practices for ongoing monitoring of progress for students from Kindergarten to Grade 4 and providing evidence based tools to use for this purpose.
- Establishing processes and practices that protect student privacy throughout the screening process, in accordance with privacy legislation.
- The collection and compilation of early reading screening data, making it accessible to school leaders, teachers, and divisional clinicians and coaches to support planning.
- Providing guidance and support for communicating with parents, including the purpose and process of early reading screen, and individual screening results.
- Providing opportunities for teachers to have necessary training on the implementation of early reading screening tools.
- Providing professional learning for teachers, including professional development and coaching support for supplementary instruction that is responsive to screening and formative assessment data.
School Principals
School principals support the implementation of the screening measures at the school-level and support student reading development by:
- Putting processes and practices in place to support screening.
- Supporting communication with parent/guardians to encourage collaboration between home and school, including the purpose and process of early reading screen, and individual screening results.
- Preparing timetables that allocate focused, uninterrupted time for systemic and explicit instruction in foundational reading skill development.
- Leading the school’s literacy plan, including: allocating resources to support implementing screening, providing leadership to the interpretation of screening data and formative assessment (including Performance Based Reading Assessment) data to create class and school profiles and plans for responsive, supplementary instruction in Tiers 1 through 3, allocating resources (staffing, time, professional learning) and planning structures and processes to implement plans and monitor progress.
- Ensure that students are receiving appropriate educational programming.
- Encouraging ongoing professional learning for responsive literacy instruction.
Demonstrating commitment to their own early literacy instructional leadership, to support classroom implementation of screening and responsive literacy instruction.
Classroom Teachers
Under the leadership of their principals, and with the support of divisional coaches, teachers support students’ reading development by:
- Administering early reading screening in alignment with divisional and provincial expectations.
- Implementing evidence-based instructional practices that are systematic and explicit.
- Communicating regularly and meaningfully with parents/guardians to share results of early reading screening and on the progress of their child’s reading and writing development.
- Collaborating with school and divisional staff to develop, document, and implement plans for responsive supplementary literacy instruction.
- Engaging in on-going professional learning with the divisional literacy coach to supportive responsive literacy instruction.
Resource Teachers/Literacy Support Teachers
Resource Teachers/Literacy Support Teachers support the implementation of the screening measures at the school-level and support student reading development by:
- Supporting classroom teachers in their implementation of screening.
- Supporting classroom teachers with the implementation of responsive, universally designed evidence-based instructional practices; and
· Supporting classroom teachers with developing and implementing supplementary literacy instruction plans for students who considered to be at-risk based on screening results and classroom assessment.