Page 11 - Building Bridges to Success for First Nation, Métis and Inuit Students – Developing Policies for Voluntary, Confidential Aboriginal Student Self-Identification: Successful Practices for Ontario School Boards

DIGGING DEEPER
For more in-depth information
on Ontario’s Aboriginal Education Strategy, visit the ministry website at: www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/aboriginal.
ONTARIO’S ABORIGINAL EDUCATION STRATEGY
As a first step towards meeting these goals, the
ministry developed the Ontario First Nation,
Métis, and Inuit Education Policy Framework,
released in January 2007. The framework
provides the strategic policy context within
which the ministry, school boards, and schools
will work together to improve the academic achievement of Aboriginal students in provincially funded schools3 and to close the gap in academic achievement.
DEFINING PERFORMANCE MEASURES
In addition to outlining a range of strategies, the framework sets out performance measures that will be used to assess the progress being made towards achieving these goals. The ministry is committed to providing progress reports every three years on the implementation of the framework.
THE CHALLENGE: DATA COLLECTION
The challenge facing the ministry in assessing progress is the absence of reliable student-specific data on the achievement of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students across Ontario. The framework document describes how important it is to have accurate and reliable data in order to assess progress towards the goal of improving Aboriginal student achievement. Such data is also needed to support improvement planning and accountability, and
to inform policy and funding decisions, measurement, and reporting.
THE SOLUTION: VOLUNTARY, CONFIDENTIAL SELF-IDENTIFICATION
For this reason, as stated in the framework, “the ministry encourages boards
to develop policies for voluntary, confidential Aboriginal student self-identification that would provide a basis for gathering the relevant information”. The ministry is committed to working with school boards and supporting them in developing such policies, in partnership with local First Nation, Métis, and Inuit parents, families, and communities.4 Once school boards have their self-identification policies in place, the ministry will begin collecting the data from them.
3. According to the 2001 Census, more than 75 per cent of the Aboriginal population in Ontario live within the jurisdictions of provincially funded school boards.
4. Ministry of Education, Ontario First Nation, Métis, and Inuit Education Policy Framework, 2007, pp. 10, 11.
• Why Self-Identification? Why Now?
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