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How well Canada excels internationally in emerging fields such as
nanotechnology, genomics and biotechnology largely depends on how well
we train our youngest students in the most fundamental of curricula.
It's what our grandparents liked to call the three "Rs":, reading, writing
and arithmetic.
Too often, it is Canada's most disadvantaged citizens who perform
most poorly in school. It's a trend that the Canadian Language and
Literacy Research Network (CLLRNet) is working to reverse.
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Helping Children Learn
The Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network is a bold venture that brings leading scientists, clinicians, students and educators together with public and private partners to improve language and literacy skills among Canadian children. The Network not only generates original scientific research, but also looks for ways to apply the results of those findings into the classrooms that need them most.
Based at the University of Western Ontario, the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network was established as a Network of Centres of Excellence in March 2001. Today, it involves more than 350 Canadian researchers, students and partners.
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Two new research projects launched this year in partnership with the Society for the Advancement of Excellence in Education (SAEE) will study the best teaching practices for improving the literacy and numeracy skills of the most disadvantaged Canadians: Aboriginal peoples and youth-at-risk in low-income neighbourhoods. Researchers hope to unlock the mystery of why some students succeed, while others from the same disadvantaged background do not.
"The Aboriginal youth population is growing rapidly, so we need to think now about how we're going to equip Aboriginal kids with the skills they need to succeed in the global economy, and how to do this in a culturally sensitive way," says Helen Raham, executive director of SAEE, a non-profit education research agency based in Kelowna, B.C.
Aboriginal students generally score much lower in school than other Canadian students. Fewer than 60 percent graduate from high school, and about half do not meet the minimum expectations on literacy and numeracy tests in grades 4, 7 and 10.
However, Aboriginal students are excelling in some schools. The Improving Aboriginal Success project will study 12 schools in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon. The researchers hope to share best practices that can help students in other schools. A comprehensive report from the project will be released by May 2004.
"A key role for the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network will be to disseminate the Aboriginal project's findings to the broader community," says Raham. "This is a small study, but it could have a big impact on policy and practice and suggest areas for further research. Bringing it to the research community's attention, as well as to the attention of policy-makers, is very important."
In another project, CLLRNet and SAEE are helping teachers in low-income
areas develop innovative literacy and numeracy programs. The School
Improvement Grants program is designed to stimulate and support
initiatives to raise achievement in public schools serving at-risk
students and to assist the schools in documenting results.
SAEE researchers prepare a case study for each school's two-year
project, while a CLLRNet research mentor helps teachers design,
monitor and evaluate their projects. "We think this partnership
is fantastic," says Susan Phillips, SAEE's assistant director. "The
Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network brings research
expertise, knowledge and support, and provides a large network of
research capability."
SAEE is one of more than 75 public and private partners across
Canada with whom CLLRNet works. Says CLLRNet managing director Dan
Sinai: "We're open to collaboration, putting our science to work
through flexible partnerships with professionals, educators and
practitioners, to turn ripples of change into waves."
www.cllrnet.ca
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