Sarah Arnold:
Hi! I am Sarah Arnold the Founder of Halifax Learning. I know from personal experience what it is like to go through school without efficient reading and writing skills - it is awful, an undue burden and just plain wrong. I now have 25 years of working with an amazing team and one of the most powerful structured literacy programs available. To have worked with generations of students to empower them through mastery of foundational reading skills has been a gift. The profound transformation that happens as a child goes from feeling like a failure to becoming an excellent reader is magical; there is science and art in this process, and it is the best job in the world. My passion for students at HLC has always been one for all students in Canada. It is every child’s human right to be provided with a strong foundation of reading skills mastery at the beginning of their education, and now is the time to take action and make it a reality.
My life direction became clear when I met and became a student of Dr. Kay MacPhee from PEI, creator of SpellRead and Scholastic First (formerly Ooka Island). I became a student of and then worked with Dr. MacPhee for decades, during which time Dr. MacPhee entrusted her life's work, Spell Read Structured Literacy Program to me, and the team at Halifax Learning. As a result, I established Halifax Learning in 2007.
As you may be aware, the Ontario Human Rights Commission published the Right to Read Report in 2022. This report found that teaching children to read is their human right, it also made 157 recommendations on how we can make this a reality. This historic report recommended HLC as a Tier Two remediation program. At Halifax Learning, we work tirelessly to align with leading reading researchers. Our objective is to create and maintain excellent student outcomes in our delivery of the leading Canadian structured literacy program. We are committed to continuing to provide you with cutting-edge, Canadian, research-based structured literacy training and tools!!
Eryn Steele:
Hi! My name is Eryn, and I am the Director of Teacher Training at Halifax Learning. After studying on both sides of Canada, I graduated from Mount Saint Vincent University with a Bachelor of Arts in 2000. After graduation, I travelled to Europe, where I had a transformative experience tutoring English and French to Spanish-speaking children in a low socio-economic area of Spain. This experience ignited my passion for education and very importantly, equity in education.
In 2001, under the mentorship of Dr. Kay MacPhee, I began teaching with SpellRead, which allowed me to work with so many children and adults, helping them build effective literacy skills despite their challenges. By 2004, I became a SpellRead trainer, trained by Dr. MacPhee, and traveled to Polk County, Florida, where I helped train over 40 teachers and supported them in delivering SpellRead to more than 650 ninth and tenth graders across six high schools, an initiative created by the “No Child Left Behind” policy and followed by Dr. Joe Toregson from the Florida Centre for Reading Research.
Now, in 2024, after years of self-study, continual learning, and collaborating with amazing educators and researchers, I have elevated Dr. MacPhee’s original SpellRead training, embracing the changes in structured literacy over the last 20 + years and always following the science.
The past five years have been immensely fulfilling as I have trained educators across Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the United States. The team at Halifax Learning has the collective goal to ensure all people have access to essential literacy skills, and it is a privilege to be a small part of the amazing change in reading education.
Melinda Cameron:
Hi, I’m Melinda Cameron, the Director of Student Clinics and Research at Halifax Learning. I have a Research Master of Arts in literacy instruction and extensive experience in reading instruction. The work I’ve done over the years, both directly teaching hundreds of students and supporting the work of other reading teachers, reveals my deep commitment to supporting children's literacy development. I have a strong skill set and clarity of understanding of the science of reading and the value of structured literacy. I have the knowledge and skills to support the phonological skills, reading fluency, comprehension, writing, and spelling skills mastery that are foundational to our unprecedented student outcome results at HLC. This has also supported HLC to create a state-of-the-art student progress monitoring tool.
I’ve always been proud to say that our work at Halifax Learning is backed by evidence-based data that proves the effectiveness of our reading program. Together with my colleagues at Halifax Learning, we are a passionate and accomplished team, dedicated to making a real difference in literacy development across Canada.
Laurie Sinclair:
Hi! I am Laurie Sinclair, the fractional CEO of Halifax Learning. I have a Bachelor of Business Administration, an MBA and have completed the CPA program. I have completed three Harvard University executive education programs in Strategy, Leadership and Scaling Private Business. I have worked extensively with private businesses across Canada to support their leadership development, growth and scalability. I have a rich skill set and experience in identifying a market opportunity for growth and building a sustainable and complete business model foundation to create a stable and scalable business to realize that growth potential. I have created, scaled and sold my own software for service private business, and as a result have acquired critical practical experience. At Halifax Learning I have the pleasure to lead a great team that has the leading structured literacy program in Canada grounded in the science of literacy, to ensure teachers and students have a strong foundational knowledge and ability. I love reading, books and learning, and have a strong passion to ensure that every teacher and child in Canada and beyond, has the skills and tools to enjoy a love of reading and learning too!
At HLC I am proud to share that we have worked hard to create the infrastructure, metrics and scalable foundation for HLC to have all the strength and business pillars to make a significant contribution to literacy development across Canada.