NewsMarch 11, 2021

The OurSCHOOL survey now meets the legislative requirements of Ontario’s Anti-Racism Act; PPM 144: Bullying Prevention and Intervention; and Anti-Racism Data Standards.

Canada’s largest school climate survey now meets the legislative requirements outlined by the Government of Ontario. To help school divisions achieve their equity and inclusivity goals, The Learning Bar has added 13 new demographics to the OurSCHOOL secondary student survey.

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DEMOGRAPHIC DRILLDOWNS

۰ Grade
۰ Sex
۰ Sex Inclusive
۰ Gender Identity
۰ Language Spoken at Home
۰ Grade Repetition
۰ Immigrant Status
۰ Indigenous Status
۰ Disability
۰ Change School
۰ Race
۰ Religion
۰ LGBTQ2S+

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DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS

۰ Socio-Economic Factors
۰ Age
۰ Sexual Orientation
۰ Gender Expression
۰ Ethnic Origin
۰ Canadian Identity
۰ LGBTQ2S+ Ally
۰ LGBTQ2S+

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DEMOGRAPHIC DATA PROJECTS ITEMS

۰ Language First Spoken
۰ Indigenous Identity
۰ Canadian Status
۰ Disability
۰ Sexual Orientation

One survey… multiple solutions

Out of the box, the OurSCHOOL student survey reveals insights into the climate of inclusivity, diversity, and equity within your division. Students’ differing experiences of engagement, sense of belonging, bullying, safety, and well-being tell a rich and compelling story.

Click here to find out more about the suite of powerful reporting on School Climate Measures, Demographic Factors, and Demographic Drilldowns.

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Becoming a reader in 75 days
NewsJune 25, 2020

Learn how to strengthen your childs’ reading skills in 75 days!

We are proud to announce a new course for parents and caregivers of children aged 4 to 6 who want to learn the core strategies for supporting their child in becoming a reader. 

This course ‘Becoming a reader in 75 days’ equips caregivers with the knowledge and sequence of foundational reading skills and provides fun and engaging activities for teaching children at home.

Click here to find out more.

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Early Years Evaluation - Direct Assessment - Child with caregiver
Blog, Customer / Partner Stories, NewsJune 3, 2020

Educator Insights videos: Sharing knowledge and expertise


We have recently completed a series of interviews with our wonderful customers to explore their experiences of using The Learning Bar solutions. We are proud to share these Educator Insights videos with you.

Find out how educators are using the Confident Learners Literacy Program to make meaningful gains in student literacy and graduation rates and how the Early Years Evaluation and OurSCHOOL are being used to better meet the needs of children, families and educators.

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Literacy Development

Find out what other educators are doing to improve graduation rates and how they are using data to make meaningful gains in literacy development.

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Early Years Development

Hear educators discuss how they are using their EYE data to inform classroom instruction and put appropriate interventions in place as children prepare for kindergarten.

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School Improvement and Planning

Watch video testimonials from educators discussing how they are achieving positive and practical change in their schools to create an environment where all students can thrive.

Contact us if you would like to find out more.

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Early Years Evaluation - Teacher Assessment - Girl leafing through book
webinarFebruary 25, 2020

Teaching children to read. Common questions answered!

Webinar:  March 11,  3:45 MDT

Join us as we address common instructional questions related to teaching reading and strategies to support students at different stages of reading development. Common questions to be discussed include:

• What are the differences between phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics and why are they important?

• How do children learn to automatically recognize words and read fluently?

• How do we teach children to comprehend texts they read?

A question and answer session will follow.

Participants are encouraged to click on this link and submit their questions in advance of the webinar.

Register Now! >>

About the Presenter Dr. St. Croix

Dr. Norma St. Croix is an educational consultant and researcher in the areas of assessment and data literacy, professional learning, literacy and numeracy. She has over 20 years of successful teaching experience and 12 years in educational leadership roles in rural and urban schools. For the past 6 years, she’s been working with The Learning Bar, focusing on developing educators’ skills assessing and teaching early literacy skills with the Confident Learners Literacy Program program.

The Learning Bar is passionate about reducing global vulnerability and giving all children the opportunity to thrive. To do this, we provide tools in three primary areas: The early identification of learning needs, the transition from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn, and evidence-based school improvement.

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webinarFebruary 13, 2020

Are you going to the Reading for the Love of It conference in Toronto on 20-21 February?

We’ll be there! Contact Christine Hole to connect now.

 

 

 

 

How do children learn to read?

Webinar: March 4, 3:45: 5:00 EST – Common questions answered!

We’ll be following up the conference with a webinar led by literacy expert, Dr. Norma St Croix, addressing common instructional questions educators have about reading.

For example, have you ever wondered…..

 

  • if all phonics programs include phonemic awareness instruction?
  • if sight words should be taught by memorization?
  • what orthographic mapping is and how it enables students to recognize words?
  • if you should use levelled readers, decodable texts, or authentic texts to teach reading fluency?

 

 

Register Now! >>

 

 

 

Find out the answers to these questions and more. If you are a literacy lead or an educator responsible for teaching reading, this will be a great opportunity to engage directly with one of our experts. Have a question of your own? Let us know and we will attempt to address it in this or future webinars.

 

 

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OurSCHOOL Parent Survey - Educators reviewing results for school planning
NewsMay 4, 2019

Attending the QESBA / AAESQ Spring Conference May 24 – 25?

Visit us at booth 29!

We’ll be at this annual event alongside administrators from the English school boards across Quebec. We met some of you at our April OurSCHOOL Survey workshop at the Lester B. Pearson board offices and are keen to reconnect with you, as well as touch base with those who weren’t able to make it. We had some great conversations about how to dig into and share survey results with the aim of prompting informed discussions around data analysis and incorporating the resulting ideas into your success plans.

Bring your data along and come and discuss using OurSCHOOL to improve outcomes at your school. If you’d like to set up a specific time to meet during the event, please email me directly. We look forward to seeing you there.

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Early Years Evaluation - Allocate educational resources
Blog, NewsJanuary 29, 2019

Effective Feedback is More Than Just Correcting Student Work: How to give better feedback to improve student learning

Teachers have never-ending opportunities to provide feedback to students. Amidst all the different sources of feedback students receive, neither marks or grades have the biggest impact on student learning. These matter, but they give students little information as to how they can increase their learning or demonstrate more accurately what they have learned. Written and in-person feedback that is specific to the task at hand has the greatest impact on improving learning outcomes.[1] Feedback, when done well, has a powerful influence on student learning.[2] In fact, research suggests that spending slightly less time teaching in order to provide more constructive feedback increases student learning.[3]

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NewsOctober 23, 2018

The Learning Bar is an Award Winner

The Learning Bar is announced as the Large Business Award Winner as The Fredericton Chamber of Commerce Celebrates their Best and Brightest

The Business Excellence Awards acknowledges the accomplishments of businesses in the Fredericton area ‐ both members and non‐members of the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce. The Large Business Award recognizes a company with 51 or more employees that has been operational for at least five years and has demonstrated professional integrity, excellence in customer service, success through innovation and a commitment to the community.

The Fredericton Chamber of Commerce hosts the Business Excellence Awards gala annually to recognize and exemplify leadership in the city.

#BEA2018

Blog - Dr Willms - Chamber of Commerce Awards 2019
Dr. J. Douglas Willms, Founder and President
of The Learning Bar
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Blog - Rick Hansen Foundation Logo
Blog, Customer / Partner Stories, NewsDecember 12, 2017

New collaboration aims to make learning inclusive and accessible for all students

The Learning Bar and the Rick Hansen Foundation have teamed up to help educators assess the level of inclusivity and accessibility within their school environment. Through the collaboration, the OurSCHOOL Student Survey, developed by The Learning Bar, now includes questions of students’ awareness of the barriers facing peers with physical disabilities, and their willingness to take action. The data will enable educators to monitor the success of programs aimed at increasing awareness, accessibility and inclusion. Click here to find out more.

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