With Ontario’s beginning-of-year screening window now complete, schools now have a clear, research-based picture of students’ early literacy skills. Screening tools provide dependable information about the foundational skills that matter most for reading development. These data help educators understand how instruction is landing across the class, which skills are well established, and which areas may need additional emphasis as the year begins. Screening is designed for this purpose. It provides the information needed to adjust instruction so that it meets the needs students are bringing into the classroom right now.
Using Collaborative Problem Solving with the ONlit Worksheet
Collaborative Problem Solving is a structured thinking process that helps educators move from information to action. CPS mirrors the logic of the scientific process. Teams identify a problem, analyze why it might be happening, propose an instructional change, evaluate the results, and refine. This cyclical process supports continuous improvement because it provides a clear, repeatable way to strengthen instruction in response to student needs. CPS keeps the focus on how instruction can be adjusted and improved for the whole class rather than concentrating only on individual students.
To support this work, ONlit provides a Classroom-Level Problem-Solving Worksheet. This worksheet guides educators through each phase of CPS. It prompts teams to summarize what the screening data show, identify an instructional focus, plan targeted adjustments, and document how these adjustments will be implemented and reviewed. It offers an organized structure for analyzing information, reflecting on instruction, and mapping out purposeful next steps. When CPS is carried out using the ONlit worksheet, teams have both a clear decision-making process and a practical tool for recording and implementing evidence-based plans.
A classroom-level problem-solving approach also supports equitable use of intervention resources. When large numbers of students require additional help, it becomes difficult to plan targeted support for individual learners. Strengthening core instruction reduces this pressure and allows intervention resources to be focused on students who need higher levels of intensity.
A Classroom-Level Example Using the ONlit Worksheet
Step 1: Identify the problem
Screening data for a Grade 1 class indicate that many students need additional support with phoneme segmentation. Students’ early writing samples show difficulty representing all the sounds in simple words. These observations point to the need for strengthened instruction in phonemic awareness and phoneme to grapheme connections.
Step 2: Analyze the problem
The educator reviews the current instructional approach and notes that students receive limited structured practice in segmenting and blending sounds and that activities linking speech sounds to print occur only briefly during lessons. This reflection suggests that increasing explicit instruction and practice in these skills may better meet student needs.
Step 3: Develop a plan
Using the ONlit worksheet, the educator selects a clear instructional focus. The plan includes adding a daily routine that links phoneme segmentation with letter sound knowledge, increasing opportunities for connected practice through choral responses and manipulatives, and adjusting small group time so that students can practise these skills with immediate feedback. A short-term, measurable goal is recorded to monitor progress.
Step 4: Implement and evaluate
The educator follows the planned adjustments and monitors how students respond. Observations are recorded on the worksheet. After several weeks, the educator reviews the results with colleagues. If students demonstrate improvement, the routine continues and may be expanded. If progress is limited, the team refines the plan and adjusts instruction accordingly. The CPS cycle repeats until screening and classroom data indicate that students are developing the targeted skills.
Why this Approach Matters
When educators use screening data, a structured analysis process like Collaborative Problem Solving, and the ONlit worksheet together, instruction becomes more precise, responsive, and aligned with student needs. Screening becomes the starting point for strengthening core instruction, supporting all learners, and building a classroom environment where instructional decisions are consistently grounded in evidence.
