Dr. Avis Glaze, OOnt
Dr. Avis Glaze is known as an international leader in the field of education and as one of Canada’s outstanding educators. As Ontario’s first Chief Student Achievement Officer and founding CEO of the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat, she played a pivotal role in improving student achievement in Ontario schools. From classroom teacher to superintendent of schools and director of education, this award-winning educator has experience at all levels of the school system. She was also an Education Officer with the Ontario Ministry of Education and Research Coordinator with the Ontario Women’s Directorate of the Ministry of Labour. In 1994, Avis served as a Commissioner on the Ontario Royal Commission on Learning and had the opportunity to influence the direction of education in Ontario.
Avis has extensive experience in international education. She was chosen by the Canadian government to assist with education reform in South Africa and represented Canada at the UNESCO conference on Inclusive Education in Riga, Latvia. As well, she knows schools across the globe firsthand, having worked with educators in Australia, England, Finland, Singapore, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, the Caribbean and many parts of the United States. Within her community, she served as Chairperson of the Harry R. Gairey Scholarship Fund, helping outstanding black students to attend university. She established the annual Avis Glaze Scholarships with the Markham African Caribbean Association for university or college education and supported a scholarship for studies in education at the University of Ottawa.
Avis has received honorary doctorates from several Canadian universities and has won more than thirty awards for outstanding contribution to education, including Educator of the Year, the Sandford D. McDonnell Lifetime Achievement Award for Character Education offered by the Character Education Partnership in the United States, and The Order of Ontario. Avis was also appointed as Ontario’s Education Commissioner and Senior Adviser to the Minister of Education. Her consulting company, Edu-quest International Inc., offers a wide range of services internationally. She frequently consults with school districts, non-profit organizations and businesses to maximize results. She is skilled at motivating, inspiring, and developing the skills of entire school staffs, to realize their potential in improving their schools. She also served as Adviser to the Minister of Education in New Zealand on national standards. Avis continues to be the inveterate learner that she is, taking courses at every possible opportunity. She recently received designation as a Visible Learning Certified Trainer, in John Hattie’s work, offered through Corwin Press in Thousand Oaks, California.
Dr. Glaze is a consummate capacity builder in teaching, improving student achievement, leadership development and school system improvement. She is skilled at motivating and inspiring teachers, principals, system leaders, policy makers politicians, parents and business leaders to realize their potential in improving their schools. She co-authored “Breaking Barriers: Excellence and Equity for All” (Glaze, Mattingley and Levin) on the high impact strategies to improve education systems in general, and schools in particular. Her most recent book, “High School Graduation: k-12 Strategies that Work,” (Glaze, Mattingley and Andrews), identifies the research-informed strategies to improve graduation rates for all students regardless of socio-economic or other social or demographic factors. Avis’ international contribution to education was, once again, recently recognized when she received the Robert Owen Award, the first of its kind offered in Scotland, from Mr. Michael Russell, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning.