Northern Lights Public School has gotten the results for the new Literacy intervention program and says the results are very positive.
Board Chair Karen Packard says the staff did a great job identifying strategies to support students
“We are thrilled with the results so far and will be advocating for funding from Alberta Education so that we can continue with this programming next year.”
The intervention program saw an average reading level in Grade 2 jump by 7.2 months in grade level and Grade 3 students gained 8.8 months in grade level.
Terry Moghrabi, Associate Superintendent explained the program not only helped kids catch up but in some cases, they jumped ahead.
“The feedback from parents has also been positive. They have noticed a big difference in their children’s confidence and ability to read on their own.”
The program identifies and helps kids behind the grade level in literacy and numeracy in grades 2 and 3 who were considered to be at risk of falling behind as a result of pandemic-related learning disruptions.
A Fountas and Pinnell assessment was used to determine which students were in need of intervention in the NLPS elementary schools.
A total of 334 students (175 in Grade 2 and 159 in Grade 3) participated in the literacy intervention program.
On average, the Grade 2 students were 10.6 months behind grade level at the beginning of the intervention program and the Grade 3 students were an average of 14.6 months behind grade level.
Alberta Education approved a $348,000 learning disruption grant for NLPS who purchased Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) kits and hired educational assistants to work with students in small groups at each school. The students in the program spent time with the assistants working over a period of 12 to 16 weeks.
The results for the numeracy interventions will not be available until the fall due to the assessment being used.
The division would like to continue these interventions and has asked Alberta Education to continue the learning disruption grant next year and for permission to use the Fountas and Pinnell assessment to measure student progress.
“It is important that we continue to build on the momentum and the gains that were made this year,” said Packard. “We need the grant to continue so that we can put the resources and staffing in place to offer these interventions to our students.”