NSEL Policy Research Papers
From NSEL Report Wiki
Leading literacy experts have prepared the following policy research papers addressing the key issues impacting the development of literacy skills.
The Social Costs of Low Literacy Skills
Judith Maxwell and Tatyana Teplova
This paper discusses the social cost of low literacy skills in the population and serves to provide a framework for thinking about social costs of low literacy skills over the life course of a Canadian citizen. While it is difficult to measure low literacy, the authors have collected significant data to prove that low literacy places a monumental burden on individuals and society.
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Evidence-Informed teaching strategies for improved literacy skills
Professor Robert Savage, McGill University
This essay is one in a series of policy background papers. It is trying to describe effective strategies for teaching reading. It is a non-technical overview with implications for wider policy. The information is an analysis of what is known about evidence-based policy and practice in the health and social fields, and relevant work by reading researchers worldwide.
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Aboriginal Young Children's Language and Literacy Development
Jessica Ball, M.P.H., PhD
This paper provides a summary of what is known about language and literacy development of Aboriginal children under six years living in Canada. It also characterizes some of the views on this topic expressed by Aboriginal leaders, parents, Elders and early childhood educators, as well as by speech pathologists who have worked with Aboriginal children. The focus is on the speech-language development in the early years as the foundation for emerging literacy, as language develops rapidly from infancy throughout the preschool years and prevention of difficulties are best addressed during the preschool years.
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Reading Assessment Policy Research: Understanding Elementary Reading Assessment Options
Alain Desrochers, University of Ottawa and Victor Glickman, University of British Columbia
- Main Article: Reading Assessment Policy Research: Understanding Elementary Reading Assessment Options
The main purpose of educational programs is to change students' knowledge and ability. Reading is very important because other learning depends on it. Several assessment tools are available to measure reading ability, but they vary considerably. The main goal in this paper is to investigate 12 questions and answers that can help educators in their decisions. The questions are listed below:
- What are the educators' reading assessment options?
- Who is the reading assessment tool intended for?
- What are the assessment administration requirements?
- How is the reading assessment scored and how are the scores represented?
- What kinds of information does the assessment provide?
- How can the results be understood or used?
- How can one tell if a reading is precise or reliable?
- How can one tell if a reading assessment is valid?
- How can one tell if a reading assessment is sensitive to individual differences?
- How much training does the administration of a reading tool require?
- How can one tell if the physical characteristics of a reading tool are adequate?
- How can one estimate the cost of a reading tool?
This guide is meant to provide decision makers within the education system with criteria to help with both buying and using the best assessment tool for their needs. The criteria may also be used to match an assessment tool with specific needs or goals. The assessment tool must be useful. The criteria here can aid anyone in making sound, objective decisions.
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The Effect of Family Literacy Interventions on Children’s Acquisition of Reading from Kindergarten to Grade 3
Monique Senechal
- Main Article: The Effect of Family Literacy Interventions on Children’s Acquisition of Reading from Kindergarten to Grade 3
The goal of this report was to review the scientific literature on parent involvement in the acquisition of reading from kindergarten to grade three by looking at various intervention studies. There were 14 intervention studies in which researchers tested whether parent involvement enhanced children’s literacy. This review of parent involvement in literacy acquisition was narrowly defined to include parent-child activities that focus on reading. The author discusses three categories of parent involvement in their child’s literacy development: school-based involvement, home-school conferencing and home-based involvement.
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Literacy Outcomes in French Immersion
Fred Genesee, McGill University
- Main Article: Literacy Outcomes in French Immersion
This paper discusses the research on literacy outcomes of students in French immersion programs, with a focus on students who might be at risk for poor language and literacy development.
In the paper, risk is defined as:
- Students at risk for or have reading difficulties owing to clinical factors, and
- Students with learner or background characteristics of a non-clinical nature that are often associated with low levels of school achievement including:
- disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds;
- low levels of general academic or intellectual ability; or
- low levels of native language ability.
Large-scale efforts to improve literacy – What do we know?
Ben Levin
This paper provides a variety of research and examples to describe what we know now and what we need to consider in thinking about future large-scale efforts to improve early literacy. The paper is organized in three parts.
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Closing Canada’s Rural/Urban Literacy Gap
A report prepared by the Canadian Council on Learning for the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network
- Main Article: Closing Canada’s Rural/Urban Literacy Gap
Strong literacy skills are critical to the economic success of Canada and of individual Canadians, and the need for these skills is growing. Further economic growth relies on the availability of those skills.
By various measures, Canada maintains a successful literacy record, but despite these successes there are notable gaps in Canada’s literacy achievements. There are age gaps, education gaps and regional gaps. This report focuses on a specific regionally based gap: the literacy gap between rural Canadians and their urban counterparts.
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The Role of Parents, Families and Caregivers in Young Children’s Literacy Development
Janette Pelletier
- Main Article: The Role of Parents, Families and Caregivers in Young Children’s Literacy Development: A Review of Programs and Research
Children learn literacy in two major contexts, their families and their Early Learning and Child care programs. Parents, as the child’s first teacher, establish the roots of a child’s literacy. When parents have knowledge about early literacy development they may provide a home environment that is more conducive to early literacy development. The parents’ understanding of children’s literacy development and of home literacy practices is a critical area of consideration in this paper.
Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) programs which include child care centres, family child care, preschools and related family support programs, have impact through the quality of language and literacy programming they offer to the children in their care. Canada has no coordinated ELCC across the country. Each province and territory has different training programs and various services. This paper looks at the limited evidence of ELCC training on early literacy development and examines the type of training that Canadian ELCC educators receive in the area of early literacy development.
The goal of this review is to determine the current state of knowledge about the role of family and ELCC programs on early childhood literacy development and to recommend directions for future Canadian research to expand this base of knowledge.
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Definitions of Learning Disabilities in Canadian Provinces and Territories
Michelle Kozey and Linda S. Siegel, University of British Columbia
The provinces vary as to the special education services that learning disabled (LD) children receive across Canada. This is due to the absence of a common definition for LD, and different identifying and funding procedures.
Most of the provinces use the definition of LD as being a discrepancy between intelligence test scores and achievement, even though research does not support this. Recently seven of the provinces have accepted all or part of the Canadian Learning Disabilities Association 2002 definition of LD. This definition says that LD is a cognitive processing disorder or condition with processing deficits. There are different definitional ways to look at LD: a research approach, a diagnostic approach, a policy approach and an advocacy approach. These should all be the same, but this is not the case. In this study, LD will be used to refer to reading disability or dyslexia, math disability or dyscalculia and writing disability or written output disorder.
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Le rôle et la formation des enseignants et des orthopédagogues pour l’apprentissage de la lecture
(Reading Skills Development: The Role and Education of Regular and Resource Teachers)
Monique Brodeur, Monique Bournot-Trites, Éric Dion, Julien Mercier, and Line Laplante
| Reading Skills Development: The Role and Education of Regular and Resource Teachers | Le rôle et la formation des enseignants et des orthopédagogues pour l’apprentissage de la lecture |
|---|---|
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Despite the best efforts of Canadian educators more than four out of ten Canadians cannot read, write, perform simple arithmetic tasks or solve problems at the minimum levels required to participate in everyday activities. This paper recognizes schools as critical in effecting a shift in these troubling statistics, but also notes that achieving new outcomes require that all levels of the education system (from policy centres to classrooms) systematically incorporate research-based knowledge into decision-making processes and teaching practices. Focusing on the specific area of early elementary (K-3) reading, the authors note the complex challenges involved in unifying decision-makers in the Canadian education sectors. They note, for example, that teachers are often confronted with conflicting recommendations as to what to teach, when to teach it and by which approach. These challenges provide a context for the paper, which endeavors to provide decision-makers and practitioners with the information they need to formulate a common vision for the roles and education of Canadian teachers and ultimately, to strengthen elementary teachers’ ability to effectively support all students on their journey to becoming competent readers. |
En dépit des efforts des enseignants, plus de quatre Canadiens sur dix ne savent pas lire, écrire, effectuer des tâches arithmétiques simples ou résoudre des problèmes au niveau minimum requis pour participer aux activités quotidiennes. Ce rapport reconnaît que les écoles ont un rôle essentiel à jouer en vue de contribuer à modifier les conditions menant à ces statistiques alarmantes. Il souligne également que l’amélioration de cette situation nécessite que tous les acteurs du système éducatif (scolaires, universitaires et gouvernementaux) réfèrent de façon systématique aux connaissances issues de la recherche pour orienter leurs processus décisionnels et leurs pratiques d’enseignement. En se concentrant sur les premiers apprentissages en lecture lors des premières années du primaire (de la maternelle à la 3e année), les auteurs relèvent le défi complexe que représente la concertation des décideurs dans les secteurs de l’éducation au Canada. Ils remarquent, par exemple, que les enseignants sont souvent confrontés à des recommandations contradictoires concernant quoi enseigner, quand l’enseigner et selon quelle approche. Ces défis définissent le contexte de ce rapport, qui tente de fournir aux décideurs et aux praticiens les renseignements dont ils ont besoin pour formuler une vision commune au sujet des rôles et de la formation des enseignants canadiens et, au bout du compte, renforcer la capacité des enseignants des écoles primaires à soutenir de façon efficace tous leurs élèves afin qu’ils deviennent des lecteurs compétents. |
Literacy Among Canadian Students in Minority Language Contexts
A report prepared by the Canadian Council on Learning for the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network
This report starts by stating that access to French-language education has been a hard-won right for Francophones outside of Quebec. While it is undisputed that French-language education is the cornerstone for minority language communities, the research estimates that only a little over half of entitled parents are exercising their right to pursue a French-language education for their children. There are also persistent findings that show Francophone students are falling behind their majority language counterparts.
There are three different groups of students in minority language contexts identified: students in language immersion programs, Anglophone students in Quebec and Francophone students outside of Quebec. Available evidence suggests that only for the Francophone students outside of Quebec does being a minority language status seem to pose a threat to successful educational outcomes, including strong literacy skills. The paper focuses on the Francophone group.
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Children for Whom English /French Is Not Their First Language
Esther Geva (OISE/University of Toronto) & Alexandra Gottardo (Wilfrid Laurier University) with Fataneh Farnia (Hincks-Dellcrest Institute/Centre-University of Toronto) & Julie Byrd Clark (OISE/University of Toronto)
This policy paper focuses on the language and literacy skills of Canadian English as a Second Language (ESL) and French as a Second Language (FSL) students in elementary and secondary school. It aims to provide an integrative overview of knowledge and practices in the following areas:
- provincial policies pertinent to the learning needs of ESL/FSL students
- province-based practices and support targeting the learning needs of ESL/FSL students
- language and literacy development of Canadian-educated ESL/FSL students
- second language and literacy development of children and adolescents who immigrate to Canada later
The Economic Benefits of Literacy: Evidence and Implications for Public Policy
Mike McCracken and Scott Murray
This report provides a non-technical overview of how economists think about literacy and what the available evidence tells us about the economic value of literacy. The evidence indicates that Canadians should be concerned because:
- too many Canadians are failing to acquire the level of literacy skills required for participation in modern Canadian society
- literacy has a large impact on the ability of an economy to generate wealth
- differences in literacy skills generate undesirable levels of social inequality in valued outcomes, including health and education
- a substantial proportion of the taxes we pay are consumed to provide public goods and services to persons with low literacy levels
Literacy among Canadian Students with Disabilities
A report prepared by the Canadian Council on Learning for the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network
- Main Article: Literacy among Canadian Students with Disabilities
In Canada, the equality rights of people with disabilities are protected under Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In addition, the Canadian Human Rights Act requires employers and service providers under federal jurisdiction to accommodate, short of undue hardship, the needs of people with disabilities. These provisions, along with other legislation enacted by federal and provincial governments, are based on the recognition that a civil society must make every effort to ensure full participation for everyone.