Residency model powers district’s structured literacy reform

Abstract

In 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that learning to read is a fundamental human right and failure to provide appropriate education for students with reading disabilities is discriminatory (Moore v. British Columbia, 2012). In Ontario, Canada's most populous province, the Human Rights Commission's inquiry in 2022 found the province's educational system was not adequately honoring this right, and its report called for policy and curricular changes across system levels. Provinces such as Manitoba and Saskatchewan recently launched similar Right to Read inquiries. As a result, Evergreen School Division, in the Interlake region of Manitoba, initiated a change to structured literacy for its reading instruction, intervention, and assessment. Evergreen began a transition toward structured literacy to equip students with a literacy foundation by focusing on explicit instruction in decoding skills, fluency, vocabulary, and background knowledge. The vision for organizational change was clear: to equip teachers with tools that accurately assessed students' reading and to adapt teaching practices to meet learners' diverse needs.