RESEARCH ON INDIGENOUS EDUCATION GRANT UTILIZATION. Chiefs of Ontario - Education Forum January 18, 2018

Transcription

1 RESEARCH ON INDIGENOUS EDUCATION GRANT UTILIZATION Chiefs of Ontario - Education Forum January 18, 2018

2 TABLE OF CONTENT Image Source: Rainbow District School Board website 1. ABOUT THIS RESEARCH 2. THE FRAMEWORK 3. WHERE IS ALL THE INFORMATION? 4. THE DEMOGRAPHICS 5. THE INDIGENOUS EDUCATION GRANT 6. SCHOOL BOARD STRUCTURE, IEAC 7. HOW ARE THE INDIGENOUS STUDENTS DOING? 8. CHALLENGES 9. PROMISING PRACTISES 10. RECOMMENDATIONS 2

3 ABOUT THIS RESEARCH HALF OF THE ENGLISH SCHOOL BOARDS PARTICIPATED 40 EXTENSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH INDIGENOUS LEADS, SUPERINTENDENTS AND ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS (PARENTS) INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BETWEEN OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2017 COVERED SCHOOL BOARDS FROM ALL REGIONS, OF ALL SIZES 50-PAGE REPORT FOCUSES ON AUTHENTIC VOICES 3

4 THE FRAMEWORK Implemented 10 years ago, was not Indigenous-led in policy formulation Key objective was to close the achievement gap by 2016 Short on a plan that was specific or measurable Did not know who it was measuring Did not know what the achievement baseline was Did not know how boards will report back on the progress of Indigenous students Ministry progress reports released in 2009 and 2013 were missing key measures No report last 5 years 4

5 WHERE IS ALL THE INFORMATION? Image source: Catholique Franco Nord website ONGOING DATA SOURCES (i) Board Action Plans since 2014 (ii) Ontario School Information System (OnSIS), verified three times a year (iii) Education Equality and Accountability Office (EQAO) results (iv) School Climate Survey at least once every two years (v) Taking Stock Report since 2010 (vi) Student Report Card EXTENSIVE SURVEYS FOR THE PROGRESS REPORTS (i) 2009: Surveys of all the boards for the First Progress Report (ii) 2012: Surveys of all the boards for the Second Progress Report (iii) 2017: Surveys of all the boards for the Third Progress Report SCHOOL BOARD PROJECTS (i) Pilot data collection projects (ii) Promising Practices Survey, Fall 2012 (iii) Review of thousands of proposal-based projects; Programs with OFIFC TAKE AWAYS FROM EVENTS AND MEETINGS (i) Indigenous Conferences: Circle of Light (2011) (ii) Indigenous Lead meeting notes (iii) MAC Working Group SURVEYS FOR INPUT INTO IMPLEMENTATION (i) 2014 Implementation Plan (ii) 2017 input for the 2016 Implementation Plan INTER-MINISTERIAL DATA SHARING (i) Statistics Canada census-related data. (ii) Aboriginal Peoples Survey, focusing on education and employment (The results of the 5 th cycle/2017 survey, conducted June 2017 available fall of 2018.) 5

6 THE DEMOGRAPHICS There are 2M students in the provincial board system. Indigenous students make up about 3% (around 60,000). Half of the students who live on the reserve go to the provincial school boards. On an average only about half of the Indigenous students have self-identified. Only 15% of the boards had accurate self-id numbers. The variance between schools within a board in percentage that is self-id could go from 0.3% to 47%. Only about 15% of the boards knew who and how many of their teachers were Indigenous. About half of the boards interviewed did not seem to have an Indigenous person as the Lead. The research interviews found no director of education who is Indigenous and only one Indigenous superintendent. 236,500 First Nations live in Ontario. Metis population now at 120,585 has increased by about 64% since There are Indian Act changes through Bill S-3 that may further impact the Indigenous numbers. The Indigenous living in cities has increased by 59.7%. Statistics Canada forecasts that 30% of the country s population by 2036 will be people not born here. 6

7 THE INDIGENOUS EDUCATION GRANT The Basis- Funding under Indigenous Languages ($10M), Studies ($25), Per Pupil ($25), BAP($6). Any need-assessment study behind these numbers is unknown. The Utilization- Allocation by number of Indigenous students varies a lot board to board. No standard practices on utilization. The Accountability- All the program funding is lumped together. So, is the Tuition Agreement funds. Also, many non- Indigenous students are enrolled in Indigenous programs. Overall, a board could have $2M in total IEG funding but may be required to report for say, only $250,000 through BAP. The Good News- Overall, has gone up by 25% in last 3 years. Recently enveloped. Has definitely contributed to a major rise in Indigenous awareness and cultural activity in schools. 7

8 BOARD STRUCTURE 8

9 HOW IS THE INDIGENOUS STUDENT DOING At the time of this report, ministry had not released any analysis for last 5 years. In 2006, the high school graduation gap was 50 percentage points between the First Nation students on reserve and the non-indigenous students. This, the framework was supposed to close by Only about 30% of the boards interviewed seemed to now have some kind of Indigenous student assessment tracking system. However, only two boards were able to report on any trend of past few years that captured a more holistic picture of the Indigenous student as depicted here. 9

10 CHALLENGES MAJOR STAFFING & SUPPORT SHORTAGE Union issues around employment seniority; prohibitive issues of cost and distance around OCT accreditation. Need for information support for the Leads Staff may not want to self-id. Issue with Indigenous teachers being pulled out of their subject area to teach art, culture. LEGISLATIVE The K-12 education gap is only one part of many that form the picture of achievement gaps for Indigenous students. There are gaps in family income, housing, child welfare, etc., due to long standing gaps in the country s. The fundamental principle for funding remains under Grants or Donations rather than Statutory or Constitutional transfers. Years of cumulative funding shortfalls due to a 2% cap since the 1990s and due to underestimated census and self-id#s. Funding unaccountability. Data unaccountability. Vague, non-measurable policy plans (example- the Premier s mandate letter to the Minister of Education in September 2014 to Minister s response in January 2016). SCHOOL MOBILITY There are many transient families. Sometimes, the families arrive late in the year and leave earlier than end-of-school year. Many are not on Tuition Agreements. Move from federally funded school to provincial school is hard for First Nation children. They find themselves struggling to catch up. Added to that, the board needs paperwork from community to accept children in the school. DIVERSITY There is diversity amongst 133 First Nations and there is diversity between First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples when it comes to the principles of Indigenous education. 10

11 PROMISING PRACTICES BLANKET EXERCISE COMMUNITY VISITS, ELDERS IN SCHOOL, CULTURAL AND AWARENESS EVENTS MEETING PLACE FOR INDIGENOUS STUDENTS, SMUDGING FACILITY COLLABORATIONS GRADUATION COACH/FOUR DIRECTIONS CAPACITY BUILDING/ COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY WITH PARTNERS INDIGENOUS LITERATURE/ MANDATORY INDIGENOUS COURSE LEADS GATHERING AND OTHER STAFF CULTURAL TRAINING SUMMER LITERACY CAMPS INDIGENOUS STUDENT LEADERSHIP TRAINING LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION INDIGENOUS STUDENT TRUSTEE 11

12 RECOMMENDATIONS LEGISLATION Image source: Bruce Grey Catholic District School Board website Refreshing/Resetting the Framework? For system-wide transformation the board structures, data ownership, staffing, funding policies need change. Embed Indigenous language as core in any Indigenous education framework. DATA Frameworks that follow nation-to-nation principles in data-sharing are needed. the data holder must make factual and holistic reporting. Quantifiable target metrics for the boards that show clear progress are needed. Regular research needs to be conducted by the Indigenous. NETWORKS Urgent need for collective platforms that facilitate information sharing and watchdog activities through- a centre for excellence/association of Leads. STAFFING Indigenous Leads need to be Indigenous and preferably from local communities. Innovative solutions to mitigate teacher qualification that are needed. SPECIFICITY Education policies should clearly demonstrate a separate focus on the First Nations students who are moving from the community. Also, delineation of First Nations and Métis students is needed, as the achievement gaps are very wide between these two cohorts. Lastly, tailored strategies are needed for schools that are small with large Indigenous population. 12

13 QUESTIONS?