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RISE Speaker Series
RISE (Reading Instruction based on Science and Evidence) is a speaker series designed to help educators and others understand and implement the Ontario Right to Read recommendations. The Centre has had the opportunity to host multiple influential speakers to discuss their research and opinions on this topic.
Meet Our Speakers
Dr. Nadine Gaab
Dr. Nadine Gaab is an associate professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her work focuses on typical/atypical learning trajectories from infancy to adolescence with an emphasis on language/reading development within a learning disabilities framework. Her work is at the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, learning sciences, EdTech, and policy. She is the 2024 awardee of the Translation Award from the International Society of Mind, Brain, and Education and the 2023 recipient of the Academic Research Recognition Award from the World Literacy Foundation. Furthermore, she received the Learning Disabilities Association America Award in 2019 and has received the Norman Geschwind Memorial Lecture in 2020, and the Alice Garside Award in 2017 from the International Dyslexia Association. Furthermore, she is the founder of EarlyBird Education, an edtech platform for the early identification of children at risk for language-based learning disabilities with an integrated professional development platform for teachers.
Dr. Robert Savage
Dr. Robert Savage is a Professor and Dean of Education at York University, Toronto, Canada. From 2017 to 2021, he served as Head of the Department of Psychology and Human Development at University College London, UK, and was previously a William Dawson Scholar at McGill University, Montreal (2007-2017). With nearly 100 research publications, Dr. Savage focuses on children's early reading and spelling strategies, working with both typically and atypically developing children, including those with dyslexia. His research investigates the neuro-cognitive processes involved in reading and spelling. Trained as a school-based psychologist and classroom teacher, Dr. Savage is committed to making schools effective learning environments for all children. He is particularly interested in inclusive education, evidence-based classroom practices, and policy development. Dr. Savage collaborates extensively with ministries of education to design effective programs. His recent work focuses on preventing early reading and spelling difficulties, often through the use of technology.
Dr. Youngsuk Kim
Young-Suk Grace Kim (Harvard University) is a professor and the Senior Associate Dean at the School of Education, University of California at Irvine. She was a former classroom teacher in San Francisco. Her scholarship focuses on understanding language and literacy development, effective instruction for racially, ethnically, economically, and linguistically diverse children, and helping them build strong foundations to support their success in school and beyond. Her research areas include reading comprehension, reading fluency, listening comprehension and oral language, dyslexia, higher-order cognitive skills, written composition, and reading-writing relations. She has worked extensively with monolingual children and multilingual children in the US. Her research has been supported by over $60 million in grants from the Institute of Education Sciences, the U. S. Department of Education, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Science Foundation. Her work was recognized by several awards, including the 2012 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) by President Barack Obama, and Developing Scholar Award and Robert M. Gagne Research Award at Florida State University. She currently serves as the Editor-In-Chief for the journal Scientific Studies of Reading and the Chair of the Vocabulary SIG (Special Interest Group) for the American Educational Research Association. She serves on the Steering Committee, Advisory Board, or Board of Directors for several prominent national and international organizations.
Dr. Karen Harris
Kim Lockhart
Kim Lockhart is an elementary teacher in Kingston, Ontario and an advocate for equitable access to evidence-based literacy instruction for students with reading disabilities. For the past 5 years, Kim has been using a structured literacy approach to reading and writing with her French Immersion students. She has an Orton-Gillingham Classroom Educator certificate, has completed several online Science of Reading courses, and has adopted a research-based approach to reading instruction for her FSL students. Kim also has a Master of Education degree from Queen's University.Dr. Donald Compton
Dr. Donald L. Compton is Professor of Psychology and Education at Florida State University and Director Emeritus of the Florida Center for Reading Research. His research involves modeling individual differences in the development of children's reading skills and the identification and treatment of children with reading disabilities.
Dr. Laura Steacy
Dr. Laura Steacy is an Associate Professor of Special Education and Reading Education at Florida State University and Research Faculty at the Florida Center for Reading Research. Before her academic career, she was a classroom teacher. Her research interests include reading development and interventions for students who have or are at risk for reading disabilities, including dyslexia.
Dr. Susan Brady
Dr. Susan Brady received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Connecticut in 1975 and is a Professor Emerita at the University of Rhode Island. She has held additional positions at the University of Sussex, St. Andrews University, and Haskins Laboratories. Concentrating on topics in the field of literacy, her research has focused on linguistic underpinnings of reading development and the nature of language weaknesses for struggling readers. In addition, she has been committed to translating the implications of the larger body of reading research for practice and has conducted multiple grant-funded professional development projects.
