Michael Zwaagstra: Screening Tools Alone Won’t Improve Reading Skills of BC Students

Commentary

Reading skills are on the decline among students in British Columbia.

For example, according to data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), from 2012 to 2022 (the latest year of available data), reading scores among B.C. students declined by 24 points. The OECD considers 20 points to be the approximate equivalent of one grade level. In other words, the reading skills of B.C. students have gone down by more than a full grade level over the last decade. Clearly this is unacceptable.

To address this problem, the B.C. government recently announced it will start mandatory literacy screening for all early-years students, beginning this school year with students in kindergarten. The intent of this screening is to identify early signs of reading difficulties so students can receive remedial support.

While this is a crucial step in the right direction, it’s not enough. Screening tools alone won’t improve the reading skills of B.C. students. The B.C. government must take concrete action to address the problem.

It can start by taking a more evidence-based approach to reading instruction. The Right to Read report by the Ontario Human Rights Commission reviewed the research literature and found that structured literacy, also known as phonics, has more evidence behind it than the widely used balanced literacy approach, which is largely based on the discredited “whole language” theory.

To its credit, after the Right to Read report was released, the Ontario government announced it would revamp the curriculum to place a stronger emphasis on phonics instruction. The B.C. government should follow suit. It shouldn’t wait until its own human rights commission conducts a review and comes to the same conclusion as Ontario’s did. The B.C. government needs to act now.

Students are far more likely to become strong readers when teachers use the most effective reading instruction methods. That means phonics, not whole language.

However, reading is more than simply decoding individual words. To become strong readers, students must understand what they read. Importantly, research shows a strong correlation between background knowledge and reading comprehension. Simply put, the more that students know about a topic, the more likely they are to understand an article or book about that topic.

Sadly, instead of ensuring that curriculum guides place a strong emphasis on the acquisition of subject-specific knowledge, B.C. has gone in the opposite direction. B.C.’s curriculum guides have less content than they did a few years ago, and teachers are left to figure out what topics are most important for students to learn. This is a recipe for failure.

As a case in point, B.C.’s new social studies curriculum guides are a confusing mess. Instead of ensuring that students gain a solid grounding in Canadian history, B.C. students are now fed a mishmash of theories that have more to do with social justice activism than accurate historical content. Without being immersed in a knowledge-rich learning environment, most B.C. students are unlikely to become proficient readers, and they will not understand critical issues in Canadian history.

Finally, it’s ironic that while the B.C. government is introducing screening tools in early grades, it has gutted standardized testing in the other grades. Standardized testing is undoubtedly the most effective way of assessing student achievement. Unfortunately, B.C. students today write less rigorous tests at fewer grade levels than they did just 10 years ago.

If the Eby government was serious about improving the reading skills of students, it would ensure all students write standardized tests that assess their reading ability at every grade level. Even better, it would publish those results for parents so schools are held accountable for their progress or lack thereof.

Having students undergo a screening test in kindergarten is a good first step, but it won’t do much if teachers continue using ineffective reading instruction strategies, if curriculum guides remain a confusing mess, and if students aren’t writing regular standardized tests. Simply put, there’s a lot more that needs to be done to improve B.C.’s education system.

Michael Zwaagstra is a senior fellow with the Fraser Institute.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.