Minister defends decision to nix reading program

Education officials are defending a decision to cancel a program called Reading Recovery.

About a dozen parents headed to Halifax from Lunenburg on Wednesday looking for an explanation for why their children's program was cancelled.

The province said it will be replaced by a less costly program that it predicts will help more students.

On Wednesdaymorning, Deputy Education Minister Rosalind Penfound said the new system will be in place for the next school year.

Penfound said Reading Recovery costs about $7 million or about $3,000 per child.

The new program will cost about $5 million.

"We absolutely intend to have in place by September early intervention reading resources for children from Grade Primary to Grade Three. Some of the hallmarks of that would be that it would not be an individual pullout program, that it would engage reading specialists with classroom teachers, and our belief is that we can do that and be more equitable across the system and reach more students effectively," said Penfound.

Last month, the province announced this would be the program's final year.

Nova Scotia was the first province in Canada to implement the program province-wide.