Human rights commission launches public inquiry into reading levels in Ontario

Troubling statistics around literacy rates among Ontario elementary school students have prompted a public inquiry into issues affecting those with reading disabilities, the province's human rights watchdog announced Thursday.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission said data from the province'sEducation Quality and Accountability Office suggest an alarmingnumber of students are falling short of reading standards inelementary school, setting them up for lifelong struggles.

The Commission said Ontario's curriculum is based on outdatedscience and fails to properly support disabled students, which inturn deprives them of a fundamental skill.

Ontario's Ministry of Education did not immediately respond torequest for comment either on the inquiry or the commission's comments on the state of the provincial curriculum.

Falling short of provincial reading standards

Mandhane said the most recent data from the EQAO indicate25 percent of Ontario's Grade 3 students were falling short of provincialreading standards. For students with disabilities, the number soared to 53 per cent. EQAO data indicate those numbers have been relatively static since 2016.

Students struggling to read are more likely to fall behindacademically, fail to graduate or drop out altogether, Mandhane
said. She said those with reading disabilities are alsoover-represented in the homeless population and the justice system.

Mandhane said the "Right to Read" inquiry will involve feedback from educators, parents and students across the province. While individuals are encouraged to share their experiences, the commission is looking specifically at eight English-language school boards it says will offer a representative sample of educational experiences in Ontario.

With help from former University of British Columbia education researcher Linda Siegel, the commission will assess those boardsagainst five benchmarks. They include whether the boards offer mandatory early screening for reading struggles, readingintervention programs and effective student accommodations.

Those early supports can make all the difference for studentsstruggling with reading, according to the incoming president of theInternational Dyslexia Association's Ontario chapter.

'I felt like a complete and total idiot'

Alicia Smith says she struggled through school in the 1980s and1990s, and was eventually identified as dyslexic in high school.Her ongoing struggles, and the sense of shame she felt about them, prompted her to withdraw from university after one year and pursue a culinary career that didn't rely on literacy skills, she said.

She's since watched the cycle repeat with her son Marcus, who penned a letter to a provincial lawmaker starkly laying out theemotional impact of his own difficulties in school.

"I felt like a complete and total idiot," the letter reads. "Sometimes I wished I would just die so I could stop feeling so
stupid."

Smith said Ontario bucked international trends in readingeducation when it revised its curriculum in 2006, doubling down onapproaches that were being abandoned in countries including theUnited Kingdom, United States and Ireland.

That included moving away from teaching skills such as printing, handwriting and phonics, she said tools that helped her during her own time in the educationsystem, but were not available to her son.

She said she hopes the commission's inquiry will pave the way forchanges in the way reading is taught throughout the province. "Ultimately I'd just like the curriculum to be aligned with the science," she said. "By adopting a curriculum that supports the children that struggle, it actually helps everyone."

Mandhane said the commission hopes to release the results of its inquiry in 2020.