Roundtable Creates Roadmap for Closing the Aboriginal Achievement Gap (fwd)

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Roundtable Creates Roadmap for Closing the Aboriginal Achievement Gap
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2005/15/c3521.html

    KELOWNA, BC, March 15 /CNW/ - A national roundtable has recommended
a
series of immediate actions to improve success rates for aboriginal
students. The recommendations are contained in a report released today
by the Society for the Advancement of Excellence in Education (SAEE).
They were developed at an unprecedented gathering of senior policy
makers, aboriginal leaders, researchers and experts held at Concordia
University on February 22nd to examine ways to close the achievement
gap for aboriginal students.

    The fifty participants in the Moving Forward roundtable identified a
range of strategies to accomplish this goal. Among these were:

        -  Collect and report better data for monitoring performance and
           guiding improvement efforts
        -  Establish common indicators and standards of student
attainment
           and program quality
        -  Ensure parity of educational services on and off reserves by
           investing in support structures and training for
           aboriginal peoples
        -  Improve training, support and working conditions for teachers
in aboriginal settings
        -  Recognize aboriginal authority over curriculum to reflect
           community view
        -  Create Centres of Excellence in Aboriginal Education to
conduct
           research, develop culturally relevant teaching and language
           materials, and communicate best practices
        -  Integrate school and community learning for all ages more
           seamlessly
        -  Build parent capacity to participate in  their children's
           education by creating aboriginal parenting centres and
           support associations
        -  Establish a national network for sharing research and best
           practice in aboriginal education

    "After decades of inaction, jurisdictional disputes and unacceptable
failure rates, a joint strategic plan to promote educational progress
for
native children is an important breakthrough," notes Helen Raham,
Executive Director of SAEE. "This roadmap is a collective way forward
for all parties responsible for the success of aboriginal learners. We
are pleased the Council of Ministers of Education Canada has endorsed a
number of these actions this week and that other organizations and
levels of government have expressed a desire for collaborative efforts
to create tangible progress."

    A non-profit education research agency founded in 1996, SAEE
recently
published ten case studies on aboriginal schooling, Sharing Our Success.
Financial support for the aboriginal education policy roundtable was
provided by Max Bell Foundation and Canada Millennium Scholarship
Foundation.

For further information: Helen Raham, Exec. Director, SAEE,
(250) 717-1163; Moving Forward in Aboriginal Education: Proceedings
Report: http://www.saee.ca/movingforward;

Media Backgrounder:
http://www.saee.ca/movingforward/MovingForwardMedia.pdf