How a Province-Wide Public Consultation Is Informing the Next Stage of Ontario's System-wide Education Improvement Efforts

• In Event: 49.060 - The Next Phase in Education Reform in Ontario: Excellence, Equity, Well-Being, and Public Confidence

Abstract

Purpose and Perspective
As social innovators - researchers, evaluators and policy makers – we want the best possible outcomes for all our learners through public education in an inclusive society. We are aware of the role of education praxis, research, theory, and policy in serving our students. Drawing from the example of a 2013 formal province-wide consultation involving diverse stakeholders (i.e., students, parents, educators, experts, businesses, community organizations including First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples, and the public at large), this paper will articulate how large systems can engage in organizational learning to inform future public policy directions.

Methods and Data
In May 2013, a discussion paper was released to the public by the Ministry of Education outlining seven consultation questions for consideration. From September to November 2013, the Minister of Education conducted eight formal regional and provincial consultations, as well as community, online, and digital events that resulted in more than 1,100 written submissions and pages of notes from hundreds of discussions. A cross-ministry team of 21 qualitative analysts, led by senior researchers, played a critical role in planning the data collection (including instrument development and training of consultation facilitators and note-takers), and collaborative analysis and synthesis, in English and French, of what the ministry learned from the consultations. Eight teams were set up including one for each of the seven consultation questions and one team for the French-language responses. Each team consisted of members from various areas of the ministry, with experienced staff acting as captains for each team. Analysts were asked to code based on the intent of the text, and to be emergent and grounded in data. Using Nvivo 10, analysis was carried out over a 12-week period. The ongoing refinement of the descriptions for the codes was the basis for synthesizing the data and producing updates, including the “what we are hearing” summaries of themes, and descriptions of the themes by question. All of this kept ministry senior management informed as to whether the public had equitable access to opportunities for input.

Results and Significance
This paper will focus on how, through evaluative thinking (systematic, intentional and ongoing attention to expected results) (Patton, 2013), leaders increased their decisional capital (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012). The consultations formed the basis of the needs assessment, which then allowed the ministry to build on the system’s successes and redefine the system’s vision, aspirations and goals for our students. The researchers also learned, collaboratively, how to better embed evaluative thinking in the ministry’s work, and to build capacity that creates the impetus to inform the next steps in decision-making processes. The process, in turn, informed the ministry’s collaborative development of strategies and action. Policy makers and internal evaluators will articulate:
• what did leaders, policy makers and internal researchers/evaluators do as they learned what was being said?;
• what really informed the system’s vision in a persistent effort to realize success for all students?; and
• how did evaluative thinking inform the ministry’s collaborative development of strategies and action?

Authors

• Richard Franz, Ontario Ministry of Education

• Russell Riddell, Ontario Ministry of Education

• Megan Borner, Ontario Ministry of Education

• Keiko Kuji-Shikatani, Ontario Ministry of Education