THE POWER OF READING
Literacy project paying dividends
Improving statistics told public school board superintendent Lynn McLaughlin that pilot projects were working to help students with reading disabilities.
But it took an encounter with a student at David Maxwell elementary school this week to actually see the impact.
“She was one of our students that had come from Syria and she told me, ‘It’s not just teaching me to read, it’s teaching me the language,’ ” said McLaughlin, who oversees special education. “It made me cry hearing that.” McLaughlin said she also saw a group of five Maxwell students totally engrossed in working on an exercise on the iPads.
When she asked what they thought of the exercises, the group stood up and danced around the table showing her the certificates of success they’d earned by progressing through the various reading levels.
“It’s been a tremendous success,” McLaughlin said.
“In only four months, we’ve seen students progress an entire grade level. We’re looking to expand this even further next year.”
The Greater Essex County District School Board currently has 27 schools involved in the Empower and Lexia projects.
The board launched Empower a year ago on its own and had planned to add the Lexia software program this fall at another four schools.
McLaughlin said the board’s own plan was doubled in size after the Ministry of Education selected it to be one of seven boards in Ontario to be part of a literacy pilot project using both Lexia and Empower.
The ministry’s three-year study has five schools using Empower and five using Empower and Lexia. The provincial study involves only Grade 3 students.
All totalled, 22 schools are using Empower, nine are using Lexia and five are using both programs.
While the board has used various software programs to boost reading in the past, McLaughlin said Lexia is “a step up” from those.
The program tests students to find their appropriate reading level and then begins to guide them through exercises aimed at improving their ability. As a level is completed, the student earns a certificate of success.
“It’s very celebratory and builds a student’s confidence and esteem,” said McLaughlin, who added that the board has 520 students using Lexia.
“We started Lexia at the end of October. Students have earned 1,200 certificates since then.
“The goal is by the end of Grade 3 to get them to Level 14 of the 16 levels.”
McLaughlin said not all students using Lexia have reading disabilities and it’s designed to be used by all. Students in Grades 1 through 3 are using it in the nine schools using the software.
“What’s really good about Lexia is it has tools for teachers they can access for interventions if a student is still struggling,” McLaughlin said. “Parents can also buy the program for use at home.”
The Empower Program, which has been developed by Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children over 30 years, is a very intensive, smallgroup oriented approach.
No more than eight students per school are involved in working 60 minutes a day with a Learning Support Teacher.
It involves everything from stripping words down to the basic sounds of blended consonants and phonetics to specialized teaching techniques developed through decades of research.
“The research around Empower is so impressive,” McLaughlin said. “In the past, we didn’t have anything that did this type of intensive reading intervention. Now we do.”
Between the combination of programs, McLaughlin said the board is seeing remarkable results.
“It’s impressive to see someone who struggled before become a leader in our classrooms,” McLaughlin said.
“Teachers are seeing improvements and the growth of confidence and self-esteem every day.”