The Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) is tweaking its early literacy skills testing schedule in a move to raise assessment scores for reading and writing that continue to lag well below the provincial average.

A report to be presented at a TVDSB board meeting Tuesday outlines Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) scores for Grade 3 students for the past five academic years.

The data show the percentage of TVDSB Grade 3 students who meet the provincial standard for reading and writing assessment. The numbers compare the percentage of TVDSB students who meet the standard with similar numbers reported province-wide.

The data is broken down for each of the last five years, and while the percentage of TVDSB students who meet the standard for reading has risen from 59 per cent in 2013-14 to 63 per cent in 2018-19, they are more than 10 per cent below the provincial average.

The chart shows writing scores for Thames Valley board students on the top level and provincial scores below. (Thames Valley District School Board)

The numbers for primary writing assessment scores are similar. A total of 63 per cent of TVDSB students met the provincial standard in 2013-14 but only 56 per cent achieved that standard in the 2018-19 school year.

(Thames Valley District School Board)

Students receive phonological awareness screening — which gauges students' ability to differentiate between word sounds — in the fall and spring of their senior Kindergarten year. The screening helps teachers identify students who may need extra help with early reading and writing.

Now the board is moving to shift the spring phonological awareness screening to the fall of students' Grade 1 year, when they are expected to begin reading.

Riley Culhane is the TVDSB's director of learning support services. He says improving the assessment scores is a board priority and that the province's recent focus on math may have led to a dip in early literacy results.

"It's critical as a district that we are focusing both on mathematics and literacy in a very intentional way," he said. "It's not one versus the other, we need to be focusing on both areas so that we can best support our students."

Culhane also said it's a trend other Ontario school boards are working to reverse.

The board also held phonological awareness sessions for administrators in the fall to develop goals for each class that help support early literacy. A new digital tool has also been developed to provide a standard for reading skills and to provide closer tracking of student progress.

The report will be presented at Tuesday's meeting of the board's program and school services advistory committee.