Ontario Human Rights Commission Right to Read Report: Sincere, Passionate, Flawed

Abstract

The Right to Read report highlights the fact that children who experience dyslexia are not being adequately supported in Ontario schools. The report’s call for the establishment of a more effective identification and intervention infrastructure within the school system is timely and persuasive. Unfortunately, the Right to Read report advances two unsubstantiated claims to explain the reading difficulties some children experience in the early grades. Specifically, it argues that Ontario schools are failing to teach reading skills effectively for all students, not just those with specific reading disabilities. Second, it attributes this general failure to the fact that most Ontario schools implement a balanced approach to reading instruction, which the report claims, pays insufficient attention to teaching sound/letter correspondences in a systematic, explicit, and intensive way. Neither of these claims is supported by the scientific data. Ontario students are consistently among the top performers in cross-Canada and international comparisons of reading performance. Furthermore, the empirical research is fully consistent with the implementation of a balanced or contextualized approach to literacy instruction that integrates the teaching of sound/symbol relationships with a more general commitment to immerse children into a literacy-rich instructional environment.

Stones from a Glasshouse

“…Critique has been launched regarding the veracity of the report's claims that there is a general failure in Ontario schools to teach reading and that there is a lack of scientific basis for substantiating the current Ontario reading curriculum. Responses to the Right to Read report have also problematized its depiction of phonics-based approaches as stemming from a settled, unrefuted scientific base, its positioning of universal classroom phonics instruction as a panacea for reading difficulties, and its missing acknowledgement of the reciprocity of reading and writing development (Cummins, 2022;Holloway & Stagg Peterson, 2022).…”

“…Throughout its report, the OHRC solely positions SOR-aligned interventions as superior to three-cueing approaches. However, the OHRC report disregards the contested terrain of reading research and implies that the scientific community is settled in support of SOR views (Cummins, 2022). In a paradoxical call for a scientific basis and evidence on the effectiveness of reading interventions, the OHRC omits much of the peer-reviewed research from the scientific community that points to the limitations of or refutes its stance.…”

Response to Cummins: The OHRC Right to Read Report will Move Ontario into the 21st Century

“…In a further criticism of the R2R Report, Cummins (2022) objects to "The Myth of Phonics as Panacea" (p. 88). However, the report does not claim that phonics is a panacea; instead, the Executive Summary explicitly and repeatedly makes statements such as this one:…”

“…It appears that Cummins and the R2R Report authors are using the term "balanced" in different ways, so that they appear to disagree, although they actually hold views that overlap with one another. Cummins (2022) uses the phrase "balanced reading" to refer to an approach "that integrates the teaching of sound/symbol relationships with a more general commitment to immerse children into a literacy-rich instructional environment" (p. 85) and elements such as extensive reading of self-selected material, reading across the curriculum, and written expression. In contrast, the R2R Report, like some other sources (e.g., Fletcher et al, 2021;Moats, 2017), appears to use the term "balanced literacy" to refer primarily to the work of particular authors and their programs (e.g., Fountas & Pinnell, 1999, 2012, who the OHRC authors take to advocate minimal teaching of phonics.…”

The Pandemic is a Portal … to Privatization

“…They demonstrate how the experience of different perspectives can serve to enhance critical reflexivity. In addition, this issue features a response to the April issue's Dialogue & Commentary piece by Jim Cummins (2022). In "Response to Cummins: The OHRC Right to Read Report Will Move Ontario into the 21 st Century," Perry Klein engages with Cummins's argument and offers his perspective on the possibilities of the Right to Read report for language education in Ontario.…”