Kathy Robson - a curriculum coordinator with the Chinook School Division - presented findings on literacy rates at a school division board meeting Monday, and improvement continued for students in Grades 3, 6 and 9 based on the annual assessments.

Robson said she was most impressed with improvements for Grade 9 literacy and the impact Leveled-Literacy Intervention has had on younger students. LLI is extra help for those who fall a little short of meeting expectations.

"I was really excited about our growth in Grade 9, because we had a five-per-cent increase in our reading scores in Grade 9, and I think our LLI was really successful this year," she said. "We had all the students who were in our leveled literacy intervention were successful in reaching their grade-level expectations. In Grade 1 and 2 we have intensive intervention for students who are just below grade level. It's like a short-term intervention where the teacher works with a small group of students and works to bring them up to grade level by the end of Grade 2."

The school division is now going to be focusing on writing - a move in line with a provincial shift.

"The reason we are shifting to writing is because provincially they have shifted to a focus on writing," said Robson. "We have a goal this year where we're working on implementing writing instruction in our classrooms. So we'll be working with our teachers, and they'll be having some professional development around that."

Though Robson said improvement in writing should lead to improvement in reading.

"We also know that writing and reading are really connected. One always helps the other. If we focus on writing, there's a good chance our reading results are going to also improve."

A Fountas and Pinnell assessment is used for Grades 3 and 6. Grade 3s are meeting or exceeding expectations at 84 per cent, which is a 20-per-cent improvement from the beginning of the initiative in 2009.

Grade 6s are meeting or exceeding expectations at 81 per cent, which is a 21-per-cent improvement since 2009.

And Grade 9s, who use a Reading Assessment Database to gauge literacy levels, were at 86 per cent - a mark 11 per cent higher than in 2009.

Students in French Immersion are also being tested, with 92 per cent meeting or exceeding expectations according to a GB+ assessment.