Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands – Ministry of Education officials are optimistic about a new literacy programme being implemented in Year 1 of the government primary schools which identifies and targets at-risk students who are reading below grade level, and provides intervention strategies to help them reach benchmark levels before they move forward in the system.

The programme is sponsored by local charity organisation Literacy Is For Everyone (LIFE). LIFE has been a major contributor to, and supporter of the Government’s effort to increase literacy in the public schools and has invested almost $20,000 for tiered interventions for Year 1. The group has also continued to sponsor Levelled Literacy Intervention programming in Year 2, investing approximately $28,000 for the 2015/2016 school year. Recently, LIFE turned its attention to the support of Grand Cayman’s two high schools, investing approximately $17,000 to support reading interventions in Year 7. In addition, Harbour House Marina and Rotary Sunrise have also been important sponsors who continue to support the development of literacy interventions across the government school system.

All Year 1 students (391 at the time) were screened by the schools’ Educational Psychologists and Literacy Coaches in September 2015 using an internationally-recognised assessment called Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) which looks at reading on a continuum that determines what most children should be able to do at different ages. Each test takes one minute and is meant to be an indicator as opposed to a diagnosis. The target is 5 to 10. Anyone who scores in that range is considered to be above benchmark (green zone). Two points below is below benchmark (yellow zone) and anything below that is well below benchmark (red zone). The well below benchmark scorers are the students who are targeted for intervention and have continued to be monitored and assessed approximately every three weeks by the school’s Special Education Needs Coordinators (SENCOs). 64 per cent of Cayman Islands students entered Year 1 on benchmark in September while 19 per cent and 17 per cent tested below benchmark and well below benchmark respectively.

All students (387 at the time of testing) were assessed again in December 2015 and the result was an almost 10 per cent growth, bringing the total to 73% of students on benchmark level in this area. Of 109 students starting in the red zone, 55 remained at that level after a term of intervention; 50 students are now in the yellow zone, up from 34 in September; and 282 students are now at benchmark level from a starting point of 248.

In addition, two new assessments were introduced in December, and students will be tested in these areas in June 2016.

“Although we are very pleased with the gains that have been made and what the scores are showing, the numbers don’t tell the whole story,” said Brad Wilson Literacy Specialist in the Ministry of Education. “Benchmark thresholds increase between each term so it is important to note that a student can make significant growth and yet still be within the red zone; this is why school-based and in-depth data analysis and meetings are critical. Having said that, we are definitely seeing marked improvement in the literacy levels just months into our Response To Intervention (RTI) programme, and are well on our way to meeting our goal of having all of our Year 1 students on benchmark level before they enter Year 2. Good teaching will lead to good results so the focus is on improving instruction; the data will take care of itself.”

Wilson said that students who score well above benchmark have an 83 per cent chance of continuing to meet benchmark according to the data, hence the importance of intervention. However, he noted that the assessments cannot account for such factors as student-related issues, ineffective teaching, poor curriculum design or a combination of the three, and emphasised the importance of using a collaborative approach to determine the area of weakness before drawing conclusions.

“Long term studies have shown that there is a 90 per cent chance that a child who is not reading at grade level by end of Year 2 (or Grade 1) will never read at grade level without significant intervention,” said Hon Tara Rivers, Minister for Education. “That means we have a two-year window to get children reading, and this programme has demonstrated that it is very possible. It takes intentional leadership, solid teaching, intervention and a commitment to making it happen, and we have all of these. Therefore, there is no reason that we cannot turn the tide on this epidemic that has been plaguing our education system for too long, and start preparing our children for success from the moment they begin their school careers.”

This is the first time the education system has taken a proactive approach to literacy in the primary years and Minister Rivers says there is still much to do.

“We are grateful to partners such as LIFE for donating the LLI resources for the 10 government primary schools as well as Year 7 students at the Clifton Hunter and John Gray high schools. Although still in the early stages, this new intervention approach in the primary schools is showing encouraging results so far, and we are expecting a positive outcome in June for this pilot group,” said Minister Rivers. “In terms of keeping the momentum, there are a few things we hope to do including training our SENCOs to perform more intensive, individualised interventions; providing additional support for schools with high needs through reallocation of staff; putting steps in place to extend the Response To Intervention (RTI) approach into Year 2 in the next academic year; restructuring all Special Education Needs (SEN) services to conform to the RTI process; and utilising private/public partnerships to assist us with the purchase of intervention materials.”