Math and reading skills are critical pillars to student success. To help ensure students receive the help they need to succeed, Alberta’s government is expanding the math and reading screeners program to grades 4 and 5, helping teachers identify learning needs earlier and provide targeted support. The math and reading screeners program will also continue for earlier grades after the province saw impressive results and improvements from last year.
“These screeners are short, simple activities that can have a huge impact on identifying and stopping issues with math and reading before they grow into even larger issues down the road for a student, and we are already seeing impressive results for the screeners conducted last year.”
Screening results help teachers and schools identify students who may need additional support and intervene before small learning gaps become bigger challenges that can contribute to classroom complexity.
Early year-over-year reporting from school authorities shows that between 30 and 41 per cent of students who were identified as needing additional support were no longer identified as needing additional support when screened again a year later.
“The information gained by screening gives our educators another tool to help answer an important question: What does this student need, and what can we do to help them move forward?”
“Our educators do extraordinary work every day, and providing them with timely, accurate insights into student progress is essential. The literacy and numeracy screening program, coupled with targeted funding for class complexity, is vital to the success and achievement of all our students.”
In the 2026-27 school year, Alberta’s government is investing $20 million in screening and supports, an increase of more than 60 per cent from 2025-26. This builds on screening already taking place in kindergarten to Grade 3 and expands screening to more students as they progress through elementary school. The new grades 4 and 5 screeners are designed to be administered to whole-class groupings, making screening faster and more efficient for teachers and schools.
This school year, all schools will be required to share screening results with parents and provide screening data to the department. School authorities will also be required to provide intervention supports to students identified as needing additional support.
Together, these changes will help identify learning gaps earlier, ensure parents have a clearer picture of their child’s progress and connect students with the supports they need to build strong reading and math foundations.
Quick facts
- Beginning in the 2026-27 school year, changes to the Education Act require school authorities and Early Childhood Services (ECS) operators to:
- share screening results with parents to ensure families are informed and involved
- provide screening data to the department and make results available to the Minister of Education and Childcare
- ensure that reading and math intervention supports are provided to a child or student when the result of the screening indicates that the child or student has difficulties in reading and math
- Alberta Education and Childcare will publish an annual report providing an overview of provincial reading and math screening results. The first report will be available in the 2027-28 school year.
- Fall 2025 screening data was received for about 147,500 Grade 1 to 3 students for reading and 161,000 students for math.
- Early trends show improvement across grades 1 to 3 compared with fall 2024 in reading and/or math through a decrease in the percentage of students requiring additional support.
- Among students identified as requiring additional support:
- From kindergarten to Grade 1, 38 per cent were no longer identified as requiring additional support in reading and 41 per cent in math.
- From Grade 1 to Grade 2, 32 per cent were no longer identified in reading and 36 per cent in math.
- From Grade 2 to Grade 3, 30 per cent were no longer identified in reading and 38 per cent in math.
- All Grade 4 and 5 students will participate in screening during the fall administration.
- Students who require intervention supports will be rescreened in the spring to help measure their progress.