The provincial government is investing an additional $10 million to help students overcome learning disruptions caused by the pandemic.
The investment will be available to help students who need help developing foundational skills in numeracy and literacy.
“Alberta’s government is building on last year’s success, where we helped at-risk students catch up to their peers by more than half a year’s worth of learning. We are taking action to prevent future challenges for our youngest learners, who are in the critical years of their development,” Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange said.
The newly announced funding is in addition to other supports the provincial government has implemented to address pandemic-related learning disruptions, a government of Alberta press release said.
In 2021/2022, $45 million was allocated to extra support for students in Grades 1 to Grade 3, which supported 70,000 students in developing literacy and numeracy skills.
Data collected by the provincial government indicated that approximately 20 per cent of students required further help to catch up.
The investment will help school authorities continue to support the same cohort of students, who are now in Grades 2 to Grade 4.
School authorities, teachers, and parents’ feedback has indicated that students in Grade 1 had challenges in their reading and math skills due to learning disruptions when they were in kindergarten or preschool.
“Early literacy and early numeracy skills are strong predictors of a child’s long-term academic achievement,” the release said. “It’s important to ensure students who are just starting in school can develop the foundational skills they will need to build on in later grades.”
School authorities will have the ability to develop programs to fit their student’s needs, by hiring additional teachers and educational assistants, providing staff with more training, or purchasing more resources.
“If educators can identify and help struggling learners early, those students can catch up to grade level relatively quickly,” the release said. “By providing extra support to Alberta’s youngest students now, the government will help prevent future learning difficulties.”
School authorities can apply for funding immediately.
School authorities will also reassess students at the end of the school year to measure their progress, to ensure students get the help they need sooner.
“The Alberta School Boards Association appreciates this investment to address learning disruptions for Grade 1 students to support the development of foundational skills. This will assist school boards as they continue to support young learners and make informed decisions based on the needs of their local school communities,” the president of the Alberta School Boards Association Marilyn Dennis said.
The new investment of $10 million is part of the provincial government’s commitment to allocate $110 million over three years for students experiencing academic and mental health challenges.
Budget 2022 also included $1.4 billion in learning support funding to meet the specialized learning needs of students.
