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Early Reading Screening

Supporting Your Child’s Reading Success: Early Reading Screening

Starting in the 2024-2025 school year, the Durham Catholic District School Board (DCDSB) introduced Early Reading Screenings (ERS) for all students in Year 2 Kindergarten through Grade 2. This initiative is part of the Ministry of Education's response to the Right to Read report and aims to support students in developing essential literacy skills.

What is Early Reading Screening (ERS)?

ERS is a quick and simple check of your child’s foundational reading skills, helping educators understand each student’s progress and identify any skill gaps in their foundational literacy skills.

Why is ERS Important?

Reading is a crucial skill for success in school and life. ERS helps:

Track Progress: Monitor your child’s literacy development.
Identify Needs: Pinpoint areas where your child may need extra support.
Guide Instruction: Inform next steps for classroom instruction.

How Does ERS Work?

One-on-One Assessment: Screenings will be conducted individually at the start of the school year.
No Preparation Needed: Students will engage in simple tasks like recognizing letters, sounds, and sounding out words.
Skills Assessed:

Letter recognition and sounds
Blending sounds to form words
Oral reading fluency

Acadience Reading Screener

DCDSB uses Acadience, a Ministry-approved tool, for these screenings. Early reading screeners, like Acadience, are designed to give teachers a snapshot of your child’s foundational reading skills. These short, targeted assessments—lasting about a minute each—act as a “thermometer” for reading progress. While they provide valuable insights into specific literacy skills, it’s important to note that they are not connected to report card grades.

Instead, the purpose of the screener is to identify skill gaps in foundational areas such as letter recognition, sound blending, and early word reading. By pinpointing areas where skill gaps are identified, teachers can tailor their instruction to meet the needs of each student. The results help inform teaching strategies and guide small-group or whole-class instruction, ensuring that all students can build strong reading foundations.

Communicating Results

You will receive your child’s screening results in:

A report following the initial screening.
Their February report card (Kindergarten Communication of Learning or Provincial Report Card).

The results will indicate whether your child has met or not yet met the benchmark for their grade level.

Next Steps and Support

If your child’s results suggest gaps in foundational skill, classroom teachers will provide targeted instruction through whole-class and small-group lessons. For those who are below benchmark a second screening will take place before the final report card in June.

Reliable and Research-Based

Acadience is a standardized assessment, meaning all students are screened in the same way to ensure consistent, reliable results. The benchmarks used are backed by research and accurately reflect key literacy skills.

Questions?

If you have questions or concerns about your child’s reading progress, please reach out to their teacher. DCDSB is committed to supporting every student’s literacy journey through evidence-based strategies and a focus on early intervention.