Right to Read inquiry report

This article is about The OHRC Right to Read inquiry report. For Intellectual freedom, see Intellectual freedom. For the short story, see The Right to Read.

On January 27, 2022, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) released a report on its public inquiry entitled Right to Read inquiry report (R2R), compiled with the assistance of Linda Siegel and Jamie Metsala. It followed the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, on November 9, 2012, recognizing that learning to read is not a privilege, but a basic and essential human right.

The R2R inquiry found that Ontario's education system is not fulfilling its obligations to meet students' right to read. Only about 5% of students should be reading below grade level if they are taught with science-based approaches and receive early screening and intervention. However, in 2018–2019, 26% of all Ontario Grade 3 students and 53% students with special education needs, were not meeting the provincial standard. In the Grade 3 English language system, 47% of First Nations, 39% of Métis, and 52% of Inuit students did not meet the provincial standard. Students in the French-language system fared better.

In addition, the Toronto District School Board reported that some groups of students experience significantly lower achievement in reading (e.g., from "low socioeconomic status; Black, Latin American and Middle Eastern; the English-speaking Caribbean; with special education needs; male; and not sure of or questioning their sexual orientation").

The Ontario curriculum, at the time of the inquiry, encouraged the use of the three-cueing system and balanced literacy, which are ineffective because they teach children to "guess" the meaning of a word rather than sound it out. In the opinion of the report, what is required is evidence-based curriculum and instruction.

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