The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal's "Right to Read" report came out on February 28, 2022. The report gave the Ontario public school system’s approach to literacy a failing grade. They concluded that by permitting the presence of ineffective elements in school reading systems, the Ontario public school system is denying children their basic human right to read. The report provided 157 recommendations to enable Ontario schools to build effective school-wide literacy systems. It is now 2024 and the Ontario Human Right’s Commission has decided that the Ontario Public School system is due for another report card. They graded the progress that the Ontario Public School system on the progress they have made at implementing the 157 recommendations.
The 157 recommendations can be group into 6 main areas:
1. Curriculum and instruction that use evidence-based practices
2. Early screening of all students
3. Reading interventions that are early, evidence-based, intensive, and systematic
4. Accommodations (which are not used as a substitute for teaching students to read)
5. Professional assessments (which are timely and based on clear, transparent, written criteria that focus on the student’s response to intervention)
6. Systemic issues
Here is the Ontario's Public School System's 2024 report card:
As you can see, significant progress has only been made in one area: curriculum. I would be very concerned if my child came home with a report card that said that he had made "Little to No Progress" in 3 subject areas. In Ontario, there is a great deal of work that remains to be done. Click here to view the whole report card.
The "Right to Read" report has not resulted in the sweeping changes to the Ontario public school reading systems that I expected. Nor has the "Right to Read" report had the ripple effect across Canada that I anticipated. I live in British Columbia. If the BC public school system was graded on how well it has implemented the 157 recommendations, our report card would look worse than the one that Ontario received. I can say this with confidence because my work as a private reading remediation teacher gives me windows into public school literacy systems around the province. I get at least 2 parents (from all different parts of the province) contacting me every week looking for private tutoring because a child is suffering reading failure at a public school where proper reading remediation services are denied. Unfortunately, many public schools in British Columbia are still engaged in the poor literacy practices that the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal identified as leading to an unnecessarily high rate of student reading failure.
How do we encourage public school administrators and teachers to remove ineffective elements from their reading systems when they are reluctant to change? We can contact our local school board representatives and our provincial representative (our MLA) to raise awareness about this issue. Click here for a link to page that provides MLA contact information. If you are from BC, the Accessibility BC Act is another tool that you can use. The Accessibility BC Act means that every school district has to have an accessibility feedback form on their website. Here is link to feedback forms for BC school districts. I know that it can be draining to write these letters, but it is worth it because every child has a right to read.
Works Cited
Legislative Assembly of BC. (2024). Members of the Legislative Assembly. Members of the Legislative Assembly | Legislative Assembly of BC. https://www.leg.bc.ca/members
Ontario Human Rights Commission. (2024). Two Year Anniversary Update of the Right to Read Report. Ontario.
Zwolinski, J. K. and T., & Brown, K. (2023). Navigating the complex implications of the right to read inquiry report. ETFO Voice. https://etfovoice.ca/article/navigating-complex-implications-right-read-inquiry-report
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