Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Government Operations is pleased to provide its Report on the Review of the Report of the Auditor General on Education in the Northwest Territories and commends it to the House.
Introduction
The Standing Committee on Government Operations held its public review of the Auditor General of Canada’s report, Education in the Northwest Territories 2010, Department of Education, Culture and Employment, on June 9, 2010. The committee would like to thank the Auditor General, Ms. Sheila Fraser, and her staff for their work in preparing the report and assisting the committee with its review. The committee would also like to thank Deputy Minister Dan Daniels and Paul Devitt, director of strategic and business services, from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment for appearing before the committee.
The Auditor General’s performance audit was completed in November 2009 and her report was tabled on May 11, 2010, during the Fifth Session of the 16th Legislative Assembly.
Standing Committee on Government Operations’ mandate includes examination of all reports prepared by the Auditor General.
General Remarks
The Office of the Auditor General restricted its examination to how the Department of Education, Culture and Employment planned, monitored and reported on: (1) early childhood education; (2) elementary and secondary schooling; and (3) post-secondary education and training. ECE was found to be deficient in matters of:
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planning at the elementary and secondary
school level, and
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monitoring and reporting of early childhood
education and post-secondary education.
The monitoring and reporting that occurred at the elementary and secondary school levels revealed the lack of academic improvement amongst students. Although secondary school graduation rates have improved, the graduation rate of 55 percent was lower than the Yukon and Alberta. At Aurora College, without adequate monitoring and reporting, there was little or no means to assess adult achievement. It was also impossible to assess improvement of children’s performance in elementary school based on attendance at day care.
Standing Committee on Government Operations agreed that the Auditor General’s performance audit was very useful in its identification of trends and issues in ECE’s programming, some of which called for immediate and/or continued action. The findings of the Auditor General validated and articulated concerns expressed by Members in this Assembly. The Auditor General’s report contained nine specific recommendations. The committee agrees with all of the recommendations and has included them in this report. ECE also agrees with the recommendations and has responded with an action plan.
Recommendation 1
The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment accept all of the Auditor General’s recommendations and proceed with its action plan to address them.
Early Childhood Development
ECE views the healthy development of young children as crucial to their success in elementary, secondary and post-secondary studies. In Framework for Action, Early Childhood Development, 2001, ECE identified early childhood learning as part of its responsibility. During the audit, the Auditor General found that between 2005 and 2008, 18 more licensed day care facilities were opened. However, the Auditor General found that ECE’s monitoring and reporting on day care facilities was incomplete. Not all day cares were inspected annually as required by the Child Daycare Act. For example, only 50 percent of the day care facilities in the North Slave region were inspected in 2008. In addition, there is no means to assess whether children who attend day care perform better when they enter school. ECE has not as yet developed performance indicators to collect data and complete assessments on the educational component of early childhood development.
Auditor General’s Recommendation (Paragraph 37 of the OAG Report)
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment should:
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ensure that all day care facilities are inspected annually, in accordance with the Child Day Care Act and Child Day Care Standards Regulations;
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collect critical data as is considered necessary and cost-effective to help assess the success of the program;
•
formally evaluate the success of its early
childhood development programming and report the results to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly and the public; and
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use this information to make necessary
adjustments to early childhood development programs.
ECE reported that it:
1. subsequently conducted a review and
confirmed that day care facility inspections are now up to date. Standing Committee on Government Operations is satisfied that completion of day care inspections is current and that a program evaluation is scheduled;
2. increased ongoing monitoring by the
development of a tracking and reporting function within the department’s Case Management Administration System;
3. will
initiate
discussions with stakeholders to
investigate the possibility of collecting and monitoring data to support the success of the program, but notes that it will require more staff and resources; and
4. will initiate an evaluation of the Early Childhood
Development Program in 2010-2011 and the results will be made public and used to determine the need for planned adjustments.
Recommendation 2
The Standing Committee on Government Operations recommends that the planned evaluation of the Early Childhood Development Program include a review of both strengths and weaknesses of outcomes and programming. This evaluation should also identify performance indicators and provide a means to collect information on them at entry to kindergarten. This information could be used for ongoing monitoring and reporting to support and provide direction for the Early Childhood Development Program.
I will now pass the floor over to the deputy chair, Mr. Hawkins.