b"The Scienceof ReadingEarly years classroom and supportEarly Screeningteachers embarked on an exciting professional learning journey in theOne of the significant findings from the research is that 2021-2022 school year that we willstudents who are most at-risk for struggling in literacy in later grades can often be identified as early as Kindergarten. continue to monitor for positiveHowever, we can reduce the risk by identifying needs and changes in student learning. targeting our instruction early. To help us put the research into Their focus was on what ispractice, the Louis Riel School Division (LRSD) established a partnership with a team of researchers at the Multilingual and widely known as The Science ofLiteracy Lab at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute of Reading, which is a vast body ofStudies in Education (OISE). interdisciplinary research that studiesDr. Becky Chen and her team guided us through the selection how reading and writing skills develop. of screening and assessment tools and their ongoing support ensured that our results were both reliable and valid, said Ron Cadez, Divisional Principal of Instructional Services.Throughout the year, teachers gained insights into how the brain develops, the skills needed as one becomes aThe screening tool we adopted was introduced to teachers, fluent reader and writer, and how the brain transformsclinicians, and administrators in September. The division as children learn these skills. The research also explainsintroduced five tests from a tool called the Comprehensivehow educators can best support children as they growTest of Phonological Processing Second Edition (CTOPP-2). as readers and writers.Our research partners provided the division with training, support, and ongoing consultation to better interpret the research and data we were collecting. All Kindergarten and Grade 1 students participated in this screening assessment in October and May.40"