Literacy for All Pilot

Alberta Education is extending the very successful Literacy for All 2011–2012 pilot for an additional year. The goal of this project is to enhance teacher capacity to meet the literacy and communication needs of students with significant disabilities. This project is the result of a conditional grant from Alberta Education to the Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia, with the Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium (ERLC) coordinating this pilot opportunity.

For a list of schools who are participating in the pilot, please click here. 

This second phase of the project, Literacy for All: Going Deeper is designed for teachers of students with significant disabilities. Twenty Grades 1 to 6 teachers from across the province will use the following resources to build their instructional practice:

Participants in the pilot will collaborate throughout the year using an online community of practice model and face-to-face learning events.


The goals of this project are to:

  • create a provincial community of practice to explore how the Daily 5 resources and philosophy can be adapted to meet the learning needs of students with significant disabilities
  • enhance the capacity of participating teachers to better meet the diverse literacy needs of students with significant disabilities
  • enhance the capacity of participating teachers to differentiate assessment, collect evidence of success and inform instruction of all students, including those with significant disabilities

Learnings and resources from this project are available at http://abliteracyforall.wikispaces.com/.

NEW! The resources MEville to WEville:Early Literacy and Communication Curriculum and Children with Disabilities: Reading and Writing the Four-Blocks Way are now authorized for use in Alberta schools. To read an annotation for either resource, please go the Authorized Resources Database at /apps/lrdb/. Ordering information will be available soon.


This Literacy for All pilot project aligns with the following policy direction described for inclusive education and literacy.

  • “…teachers have resources and tools to support them in using the programs of study in more robust ways to address the diverse learning needs of all students.” (Inspiring Action on Education: A Discussion Paper June 2010, page 12)
  • “Fairness: Students have access to the programs, support services, and instructional excellence needed to achieve desired outcomes.”(Alberta Education Action Agenda, 2011-2014, p.6)
  • Supporting professional learning opportunities that focus on literacy in all subject areas and grade levels. (Alberta Education Literacy First: A Plan for Action, 2010, Strategy 3, p.8)

For further information, please contact Val Olekshy, Executive Director, Edmonton Regional Learning Consortium, at mailto:Val.Olekshy@erlc.caShelley.Wells@gov.ab.ca or 780-427-3776.

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