Statistics

A five-year longitudinal study by Dr. Linda Siegel of the University of British Columbia with kindergarten children in North Vancouver School District has affirmed the effectiveness of systemic screening assessment and early intervention for those students found to be at risk in learning to read.

In 1997 a district-wide, kindergarten-screening program was implemented in North Vancouver schools, in British Columbia, Canada. Students, who were identified as “at risk” for reading difficulties, participated in small group intervention programs such as Launch Into Reading Success.

By following these “at risk children” for five years, Dr. Siegel also found that the use of the solid reading program described in the Reading 44: A Core Reading Framework have made a marked difference to the reading proficiency of these students. The measurable results are demonstrated in the following graphs. (Click on graphs to enlage)

 
This study, which involved testing children in language and memory skills, determined that 25 percent of kindergarten students with English as their first language were at risk of being unable to achieve reading proficiency and that up to 40 percent of kindergarten students with English as their second language were “at risk”.

“We wanted to see if there was a way to identify kindergarten students who might have difficulties so we could provide intervention before they started to read and the problems became serious,” says UBC Professor Dr. Linda Siegel, an educational psychologist who has worked in the area of learning disabilities for 20 years.

After systematic use of the intervention to improve phonological awareness and letter naming skills in kindergarten, and after four years of good classroom reading instruction based on Reading 44: A Core Reading Framework, the study has determined that only 2.7 per cent of the students who came into the school system with English as their first language were experiencing reading disabilities and only 2 per cent of students with English as a second language were having reading difficulties. This represents a 90% decline in “students in difficulty” over four years.

“I haven’t seen a school district that is demographically similar with results as remarkable as this,” Dr.Siegel says. “This is revolutionary, because the intervention program does not cost very much since it is introduced as part of the reading program and is done right in the classroom.”

Reading 44 resources have been proven to enhance the capacity of teachers to deliver successful classroom reading programs in North Vancouver School District.