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•	Message from the Minister
•	Message from the Deputy
•	Accountability Statement
•	Year-at-a-Glance Highlights
•	Ministry Role and Services
•	Core Business Areas
•	Performance Reporting
•	Deregulation
•	Report on Resources
•	Appendix: Performance Results Breakout by Equity Group


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2002/03 Annual Service Plan Report
Ministry of Education

Core Business Areas

Ministry Goals, Objectives and Key Strategies

Goal 1: Improved Student Achievement

Core Business Areas:

Public Schools

Independent Schools

Program Management

Objectives:

To improve student performance in areas of intellectual development

To improve student achievement in career development (was a Goal 2 objective)

To improve student achievement in areas of human and social development (was a Goal 2 objective)

Key Strategies:

Establish standards

Collect information

Monitor performance

Identify and report areas of low performance

Undertake initiatives intended to improve performance

Changes:

Former Goal 2 "Responsible citizens who contribute to a competitive and growing economy" is rolled up into Goal 1 above.

Objectives from former Goal 2 and included above are:

To improve student achievement in career development (This was a Goal 2 objective and in the future it will be a Goal 1 objective, in this report it is linked to its appropriate measure.)
To improve student achievement in areas of human and social development (This was a Goal 2 objective and in the future it will be a Goal 1 objective, in this report it is linked to its appropriate measure.)

Strategies from former Goal 2 were the same as those listed above for Goal 1.

Performance measures from the former Goal 2 are included in the results section, they are:

School completion rate
Percentage of students making transition to work and/or post-secondary education
Percentage of students in agreement with statements reflective of social responsibility

Goal 2: A High Quality Performance-oriented Education System

Core Business Areas:

Public Schools

Independent Schools

Program Management

Corporate Services

Debt Services and Amortization

Objectives:

To establish the infrastructure needed to focus the education system on student achievement

To improve and maintain student, parent and teacher support for the K-12 education system

To reduce burdensome and/or inefficient regulations in ministry policy and legislation (This measure is discontinued, however, deregulation is ongoing, see Deregulation section page 34).

To perform at a high level in comparison to other jurisdictions (In future service plans, this objective moves to support Goal 1.)

To build an open, performance-oriented culture inside the ministry (Strategies continue as part of the ministry's human resources plan "Our Employee Learning Strategy" now the responsibility of the central agency.)

To build a performance-oriented culture within each school district (This objective was supported by performance measures that have been discontinued; legislation now requires all districts to submit accountability contracts annually and they have met this requirement for 2001/02.)

Key Strategies:

Focus the role of schools boards on student achievement
Provide performance data to the school board to assist them in improving student achievement
Provide opportunities for increased parental involvement in schools
Provide a less directive funding system
Set standards for maintenance of school facilities and curriculum currency
Eliminate or rewrite policy or legislation to reflect increased school board autonomy
Administer satisfaction surveys to monitor levels of teacher, student and parental satisfaction
Participate in national and international assessments
Enhance data collection to enable performance reporting
Monitor student level performance by school district
Measure effectiveness of information technology resources to meet performance goals
Communicate business plans and strategies within the ministry
Encourage school boards to create strategies to improve teacher, parent and student satisfaction
Deputy Minister and superintendents to identify areas for improvement annually in each school district

Changes:

Former Goal 3 becomes Goal 2, the wording is the same, relevant objectives, strategies and performances measures are included for this report.

In future service plans, former Goal 3, Objective 4 "to perform at a high level in comparison to other jurisdictions" is rolled up into Goal 1, Objective 1 "to improve student achievement in areas of intellectual development".

Strategies are subject to change based on their effectiveness.

Highlights of Changes from Previous Plans

This year, the ministry streamlined its objectives and as a result identified two goals that encompass all relevant goals and objectives outlined in the 2002 Service Plan. The main focus for the entire system is improving student achievement this includes all students and all achievements. The majority of objectives and performance measures set out in the 2002 Service Plan remain under the two main goals. For the purpose of this report, all objectives, strategies and performance measures will be reported as supporting the two streamlined goals with explanatory notes as necessary linking back to the original four goals.

Discontinued Goals

Rationale

Goal 2

Responsible citizens who contribute to a competitive and growing economy.

Goal 4

Parity of achievement for all students regardless of their ethnic origin, gender, geographic location, physical characteristics or socio-economic status.

Objectives, strategies and performance measures have remained and now support Goal 1: Improved Student Achievement.

In continuing to improve the performance-oriented focus on the business of the ministry, some measures have been discontinued as outlined below:

Discontinued Performance Measures
Measure	Rationale
Proportion of deregulation completed. Satisfaction of school boards with their ability to manage effectively.	Incorporated into broader measures of "proportion of regulatory requirements reviewed and revised" and "stakeholder satisfaction with deregulation."
Percentage of ministry staff who feel they are contributing to improving performance in the system.	The ministry has refocused the HR strategy in light of the Public Service Renewal initiative. The implementation of the ministry HR plan proves to be a more effective measure.
Percentage of district staff who feel that the ministry is focused on improving student achievement.	New legislation introduced in the spring of 2002 gives a clearer understanding of the accountability framework and has led to redefined measures of a performance-oriented system (e.g., accountability contracts, school planning councils).
Percentage of superintendents who have implemented accountability contracts. Percentage of school boards fulfilling the obligations of their accountability agreements.	Refined to measure outcomes of the spring 2002 legislation rather than compliance with the legislation.