Empower program boosts kids’ reading
Northwood Elementary Public School teacher Chris Craig knows the final testing numbers for his group of Empower students will be important but he already knows they’re flourishing in the intensive, reading intervention program.
The evidence comes from his students and their classroom teachers.
“I had one boy tell me his family has been waiting their whole lives for him to be able to read and now he’s getting a whole lot better,” said Craig, a learning support teacher at the South Windsor school. “The kids love it. “I have kids volunteer to read aloud to visitors to the classroom who never would’ve done that before. They’re inspired to read when they were intimidated before.”
The data gathered so far from the first year of the three-year Ministry of Education study is equally inspiring.
In the 10 participating schools of the Greater Essex County District School Board, 97 per cent of the students improved their reading.
There were several examples of students starting Grade 3 last September reading at a Grade 1 level who improved by two grade levels by June.
At Prince Edward school, all seven students in the program improved to the point where they scored a Level 3 on the reading portion of the Grade 3 EQAO provincial reading test last spring.
“This by far is the most successful (reading intervention) program I’ve seen,” said Craig, who has been teaching for 12 years.
“Every one of my students has shown significant improvement.
“Other learning support teachers who have been around longer than me feel the same way.”
The board drew the province’s attention for the study after launching its own successful program two years ago.
“It’s a research-based, intensive reading intervention program aimed specifically at kids with learning disabilities or who have a profile of possibly having a disability,” said Lynn McLaughlin, the superintendent of education overseeing the program for the board.
“We’re focusing on Grade 3 students because, by that time, you can see the profile pretty clearly of a student with learning disabilities. Most of these kids coming into the program in Grade 3 are reading at Grade 1 or kindergarten levels.”
The program was developed by Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children after compiling 35 years of research.
Karen Steinbach, research coordinator and Empower trainer for the hospital, will be showing teachers how to use the program and offering a refresher course for those already immersed in it this week.
The training will allow the board to have a learning support teacher trained in Empower at all 55 of its elementary schools.
The training and materials for the year cost $5,000 per school.
Hospital mentors will also visit every school three to five times during the school year in addition to being available to teachers online.
“It might seem odd for a hospital to be here training teachers on reading intervention strategies, but we know individuals and families where literacy is higher also have better health-care outcomes,” Steinbach said.
“Students also stay in school, are more likely to pursue post-secondary education and have better employment opportunities.”
The hospital began working with Ontario’s school boards in 2006.
The program focuses on five core strategies to help students break down words, master the sounds of letters and vowels and their combinations and understand the many exceptions in the English language.
Empower classes are limited to eight students or fewer. Students are pulled from class for 50 minutes per day to work with their learning support teacher.
There are 110 lessons in the yearlong program.
“It works because there’s a real time commitment, it’s very directed with lots of repetition,” Craig said.
“It teaches kids to be flexible because it gives them five different strategies to use.
“It also gives students confidence they can do it.”
Steinbach said the program has proven equally helpful across every group its been tested in regardless of socio-economic status, IQ or language. McLaughlin said teachers have also noticed improvements in other areas.
“It’s been a phenomenal success in every school,” McLaughlin said.
“There are many stories of teachers being reduced to tears by what students are saying about how its helped them.
“There also seems to be some benefits beyond just reading. We can’t connect it to Empower yet, but these students improved in both reading and writing.”