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MANITOBA — Education’s response to a scathing report that concludes the way Ontario schools teach students how to read — a popular approach in local classrooms — is failing children with learning disabilities is being met with skepticism.
Internal documents shed light on government officials’ limited analysis of Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Right to Read inquiry and responses to public concerns about the findings that informed the launch of a similar probe in this province.
A handful of advocates for students with dyslexia and other related diagnoses say the memos, obtained by the Free Press through freedom of information requests, are incomplete and play down the issue at hand.
“(These documents) underscore the importance of… an initiative that’s Manitoba-based to gain an understanding of what the specific gaps are around students realizing that human right to read through our school system,” said Karen Sharma, executive director of the Manitoba Human Rights Commission.
“There’s no doubt that the evidence we’ve encountered to date suggests there continues to be a significant gap.”
The local commission is gearing up to launch a series of surveys to poll students, families and school staff on the state of reading instruction across the province next week.
Sharma’s team officially started investigating the challenges children face in becoming literate at the end of October, eight months after its Ontario colleagues released the inaugural Right to Read report.
Ontario’s public inquiry, the first of its kind in Canada, contains 157 wide-ranging recommendations, including calls for the biannual screening of young students to monitor reading challenges and curriculum updates to promote direct and systematic instruction — one of the most controversial elements of the report.
The founder of the Reading and Learning Clinic of Manitoba said the announcement of a local inquiry seemed to promise new initiatives for and understanding about dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia.
“At the very least, I had hoped that there would be a positive and enthusiastic response (to the launch of Manitoba’s Right to Read) from various stakeholders,” Valdine Bjornson said in a statement. “So far, I am disappointed.”
Two overarching philosophies on reading instruction dominate in Canadian schools.
Structured literacy is rooted in psychological research and stresses the importance of systematically teaching letter-sound associations, sound patterns and decoding words.
Supporters of whole-language instruction and balanced literacy typically believe reading is a skill naturally obtained if a child is exposed to lots of books. These methods promote memorization and context, including visual cues, to figure out unknown words and gradually introduce learners to more advanced texts.
The OHRC touts the former approach and an extensive body of research, known as “the science of reading,” to support explicit phonics instruction.
Its emphasis on this philosophy has faced backlash from educators trained in Reading Recovery, which conducts and publishes its own annual research, and similar programs that embrace a social-constructivist view on literacy development.
“There is no such thing as a perfect program that’s going to meet all readers’ needs,” said Joe Stouffer, an assistant professor at Brandon University and board member with the Canadian Institute of Reading Recovery.
The veteran literacy consultant said teaching children how to sound out words is important, but he cautioned against a resurgence of “back-to-basics” instruction programs with workbooks, because some children will still struggle with comprehension.
Quality literacy education ultimately hinges on teachers’ expertise to be diagnostic and adapt their instruction, Stouffer said.
Manitoba Education Minister Wayne Ewasko, a former teacher, echoed the consultant’s concerns about a one-size-fits-all approach.
“It is essential that classroom teachers are able to identify a learner’s strengths and needs to ensure instruction is responsive… (We) will continue to support a variety of methods and approaches,” Ewasko said in a statement.
Alicia Smith of Dyslexia Canada is among those who are unimpressed with the province’s reaction to the OHRC findings.
Smith called Manitoba’s response “dismissive,” noted similarities to Reading Recovery’s official statement, and pinpointed errors in internal government documents on the subject.
A briefing note prepared for the deputy minister of education in May both incorrectly states the project was initiated by the “Ontario Dyslexia Association” — an entity that does not exist — and refers to the science of reading as a “movement,” she said.
Smith said the inquiry began because the Ontario commission and its tribunal counterpart were “bogged down” with cases about children’s well-being being negatively affected as a result of gaps in reading education and support
Manitoba’s commission has received dozens of similar reports in recent years.
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