A University of Alberta literacy expert has completed the biggest reading intervention in Canadian history, tripling the rate of progress for most participants after just five months. Preliminary results show that about half of the kids in the program require no further intervention.
The program was delivered to 1,000 struggling Grade 2 readers in five provinces, four times a week for 30 minutes each session. For about 80 per cent of the participants, results demonstrate an improvement equal to a year and a half beyond what would be expected from normal maturation, says Dr. George Georgiou, a professor in the U of A's Faculty of Education.
"We had parents who said, 'I owe you my child's life - the progress is just fantastic,'" says Georgiou. One parent told him their child had become a voracious reader: "I have to sometimes tell my child to stop reading because we need to eat or go out - he is always with a book in his hands."
Conducted in collaboration with Dr. Robert Savage of York University, the intervention was implemented in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and B.C. In Alberta, 56 schools participated across seven school divisions, as well as a Suzuki charter school and one from Alexander First Nation.
Focused on phonological awareness, phonics, irregular word reading and shared book reading, the program was funded by the Max Bell Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
"Max Bell told us this is groundbreaking work that needs to make it to every corner of Canada," says Georgiou, adding that the foundation initially provided $180,000, with another $60,000 this year to expand to B.C. and Saskatchewan.
Georgiou has been tracking the reading performance of students in Alberta since 2008, when he introduced an intervention program of evidence-based teaching practices. In 2022, he used his program to help a group of elementary students bounce back to pre-pandemic levels after their reading ability declined in the early days of COVID-19.
Alberta Education has also recognized the need for strong reading intervention. In 2023, it provided more than $5 million to screen and provide intervention for students in kindergarten to Grade 3. The provincial government recently announced it will expand literacy to Grade 5 starting next September.
The reasons some children struggle to read can be complicated and unclear, says Georgiou. About five to 10 per cent have learning disabilities such as dyslexia. Others may have had poor instruction in kindergarten or Grade 1, or lack a supportive environment at home, with books on hand and parents who read to them.
Previous research shows that boys are generally more predisposed than girls to reading difficulties, he says. "It's often an interaction between genetics and the environment."
About 10 per cent of children in Georgiou's cohort did not improve, while another five per cent got worse, he says. But that was mostly due to poor attendance.
"It's actually very touching to see the response from schools," says Georgiou. "I talk frequently with superintendents, principals and the interventionists, who say the program is very well laid out and easy to follow. You just need to do it in a systematic and intensive manner."
