Comprehensive Early Literacy Strategy

I rise today to inform my honourable colleagues of the Department of Education�s comprehensive program of initiatives to improve literacy levels in our province.

With the realignment of the department, we are able to devote more energy to improving the K-12 education system and intensify our focus on the provincial literacy strategy and early childhood education. Also, recognizing the importance of tackling literacy before the age of five and the vital role parents play in the development of children�s literacy, responsibility for Early Childhood Education will become part of the mandate of the Department of Education. The department is currently involved in developing strategies to assist families long before their children reach Kindergarten, together with the Departments of Health and Community Services, and Human Resources and Employment.

The Department of Education�s comprehensive strategy to improve literacy and numeracy, beginning in the primary grades, is well under way.

Reading specialists have been hired at each geographical school board office in the province. In partnership with school districts across the province, we are delivering specialized training to all primary classroom and special education teachers in how to teach reading, writing, oral language and the other language arts skills. This training follows the implementation of a new language arts program in Grades Kindergarten to three. For children requiring extra assistance with reading, early intervention programs in reading are provided. To ensure that children in the primary grades have acquired the skills they need, an annual comprehensive testing program in language arts has been developed for Grade three students.

This year, a new program in mathematics was introduced at Grade one. New learning resources and significant training for teachers were provided in an effort to increase achievement levels in mathematics by the end of Grade three. Over the next two years, a new mathematics curriculum will be introduced to children in Grades two and three. A few years ago we implemented new curriculum and resources for science in Grades Kindergarten to three.

Initiatives from the recent Ministerial Report on Education being considered to enhance literacy and numeracy levels include lengthening the primary school day and increasing the amount of instructional time for language arts and mathematics. These changes are being considered by government pending changes in legislation. Government also accepted the panel�s recommendations to change the method of allocating teachers to school boards. This year a new allocation framework was implemented. This has resulted in an increase in the number of teachers allocated to the primary grades.

Our most recent initiative, as you may have heard last week, is that we are moving forward with our plan to increase class time in primary grades for language arts and mathematics. This latest initiative is part of our well-planned, well-thought-out, comprehensive strategy to improve literacy and numeracy levels in our province and provide a well-rounded education to our students. I believe this is the right thing to do for our province and the right thing to do to ensure our students are well-prepared at the early stages of their education to move through the system and into their careers.

2001 03 15                                 1:50 p.m.