2025 Literacy Webinar Series - Navigating Barriers to Help Canadian Students Thrive: Addressing Three Wicked Problems

Wicked problems in education—declining literacy rates, inequities in student outcomes, and rising levels of anxiety and depression—demand bold, system-wide solutions. This webinar explores these challenges head-on, uncovering the root causes. From understanding why only three out of five students meet literacy benchmarks to addressing the unequal distribution of vulnerable students across schools, this session will provide fresh insights and strategies to transform outcomes. We’ll explore how schools can reduce childhood vulnerability and reverse troubling trends.

Speaker Biographies:

Dr. Doug Willms

Dr. Willms is the Founder and President of the Learning Bar Inc. He is the Past President of the International Academy of Education, a Member of the US National Academy of Education, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. From 2002-2017, he held the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Literacy and Human Development at the University of New Brunswick. Dr. Willms has published over 200 research articles and monographs pertaining to youth literacy, children’s health, the accountability of schooling systems, and the assessment of national reforms.

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Make literacy your bottom line

Efficient reading instruction is at the center of community transformation, and children’s future opportunities. Learn about the financial benefits of reading success, or access resources to understand the literacy needs of your community now.

How much could grade 3 reading success save you in the next

Education system costs

What do you pay annually for reading interventions and interventionists in grades 3+ ?

How much does an additional year of schooling cost per student?

How many students take an additional year or more to complete high school?

Community costs

How many students drop out of school each year?*

EFFICIENT READING INSTRUCTION ADDS UP

* 20,000$ per student - Estimate based on Canadian Council on Learning (2009). No “drop” in the bucket: the high costs of dropping out.

The OurSCHOOL survey only uses multi-question measures, as opposed to single questions as found on most other school surveys. When developing our measures, we take steps to ensure they are the most representative of the construct under investigation. We begin with the broad construct (or domain) – for example, the concept of Anxiety – then we conduct a thorough examination of the existing literature and consult with subject matter experts.

A bank of questions is then developed that are intended to reflect the construct and are rigorously tested. We know that measures are more reliable when they include a number of well-formulated questions as this allows us to more accurately differentiate between students.

2025 Literacy Webinar Series - Navigating Barriers to Help Canadian Students Thrive: Addressing Three Wicked Problems

Speaker Biographies:

Dr. Doug Willms

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Efficient reading instruction is at the center of community transformation, and children’s future opportunities. Learn about the financial benefits of reading success, or access resources to understand the literacy needs of your community now.