Government is on the right track when it comes improving literacy in schools, Education Minister Terry Lister has claimed.

Addressing the House of Assembly on Friday, Mr. Lister said the work of the Literacy Committee ? formed three years ago to examine ways in which standards could be raised across the schools system under a Literary Initiative ? was paying handsome dividends.

Initiatives such as "Reading Counts", which provides ongoing assessments of student progress in silent reading and comprehension would produce "effective and long-term results".

"The Literacy Committee identifies whether there are any specific needs within the school system with regard to the teaching of literacy," he said.

"...The committee arranges for training not just for teachers, but also for everyone associated with a student in the classroom. This means that, in addition to the classroom teacher, they provide rigorous training for learning support teachers and para-educators in the areas of writing workshops, reading intervention strategies and informal assessment."

Reading performance "standards" have been established for each year group, he said, while he also pointed to the contribution of several overseas experts over the past year.

These included the Associate Professor at the University of Arizona Dr. Nancy Mather, who specialises in the areas of assessment, reading, writing and learning disabilities.

Dr. Mather visited the Island earlier this year to work with a number of school teachers and help develop new teaching strategies, Mr. Lister said.

The Minister concluded by referring to comments made by one public school teacher to her school principal, when she indicated her students were becoming "more self-motivated" and "were producing high-quality work almost spontaneously".

"That is a sign we are on the right track," he said.

"...When, because of good teaching, our students assume those characteristics that will help them achieve success in life, then we know that instruction that they received has paid off. Based on this teacher's comments, we are on the right path."