BCTF lobbies for changes to new literacy screening mandate

The BC Ministry of Education and Child Care is mandating new literacy screening for Kindergarten students in the 2025–26 school year and all K–3 students starting in the 2026–27 school year.

While the Federation agrees that early literacy is critical to a child’s learning, this new mandate fails to acknowledge that identifying a concern is not the same thing as making the necessary investments to support learning. The government has not committed to any additional funding for essential staffing and resources to support students identified as needing support by the mandatory literacy screening.

The Ministry has released an Early Literacy Screening Tools Resource document that highlights criteria for early literacy screening tools and suggests three screening tools for classroom use (DIBELS, Acadience, and Aimsweb Plus). The suggested tools each come with their own problems.

The Federation, in consultation with the BC Primary Teachers’ Association, has advocated for any suggested screening tools to have Canadian versions across all grade levels, store student data securely in Canada, and be culturally and pedagogically relevant to BC learners. Unfortunately, the Ministry’s suggested screening tools do not meet all of the above. DIBELS lacks a Canadian version altogether and stores student data in the US, and Aimsweb Plus only offers a Canadian version for K–2. Additionally, both Aimsweb Plus and Acadience involve substantial in-service training costs.

A fully funded public education system is the solution to addressing gaps in early literacy.

The BCTF’s feedback to the Ministry also advocated for the inclusion of identification of letters and sounds in the Grade 1 screening list (currently this important literacy skill is omitted) and aligning literacy screening with the BC curriculum. Despite this feedback to the Ministry, the suggested screening tools and the criteria for screening tools in the Early Literacy Screening Tools Resource remain unchanged.

All school districts will be expected to move to a standardized approach for K–3 literacy screening next school year using a new provincial screening tool that will be developed in BC. Given the time it takes to develop such a tool, the BCTF has raised the concern that it is unlikely that it will be available before the end of this school year to allow for proper in-service training.

The frequently asked questions document released by the Ministry to support the Early Literacy Screening Tools Resource discusses the government’s commitment to student literacy screening at length, but it also clearly states that school districts are responsible for the costs associated with early literacy screening tools and will not be allocated additional funding to implement these tools.

The BCTF will continue to convey our concerns to the Minister of Education and Child Care about the new mandate on literacy screening. The Federation will lobby for additional funding (beyond the existing literacy grants) to address costs associated with screening; advocate for proper in-service training on the new BC-made screening tool expected to roll out next year; and make it clear that BCTF members, including more provincial specialist associations, should be involved in the development of this tool.

BC teachers—like all teachers—know who is meeting milestones and who is falling behind in their classrooms. What we need is more investment in staffing and resources so we can support students who are not meeting grade-level literacy benchmarks. A fully funded public education system is the solution to addressing gaps in early literacy.