a history of curriculum services canada

IV. 1995
First Catalogue Launched in Rapidly Changing Times
Launch day for the Transition Years Catalogue finally arrived on 17 January 1995. The
Catalogue was a colourful, single volume of loose pages in a binder, with a clearly defined
section dedicated to Catholic materials. It listed 260 resources from forty sources and the
Minister of Education described it as “an important resource for all Ontario teachers.” This day
would be a highlight in a challenging year.
Early 1995 was a time of diminishing funds for provincially funded projects throughout Ontario,
and many that had seemed secure were in jeopardy. In this environment, it became increasingly
important to demonstrate the measurable value of every project. Deliverables and deadlines
gained immediacy, and the ability to prove a project’s overall worth and efficiency was key.
This being the case, a number of mechanisms to provide feedback on the catalogue were
aggressively pursued. Forms had already been included in the binder and these were actively
solicited. Feedback protocols were built into the online and CD-ROM versions (both still in
development), follow-up questionnaires were sent to schools, meetings were held with educators,
an evaluation project was developed, and third-party evaluation was considered. Also, the trips
made by the Executive Director over the months to encourage buy-in from developers and users
proved very helpful in providing feedback and support for OCC once the catalogue was
distributed.
But problems were arising on various fronts. With distribution, fifty-three hundred catalogues
were scheduled to be sent in mid January, through MET, to publicly funded, English-language
schools, along with The Common Curriculum, Policies and Outcomes, Grades 1-9. This would
have been a favourable conjunction for OCC, as the catalogue materials directly supported the
Common Curriculum. However, when the curriculum document was delayed until early
February, it was deemed more important to meet the published deadline for the catalogue than to
wait for the curriculum document. Thus OCC’s Transition Years Catalogue was distributed in
late January with a less topical MET document - Information Equity and Equitable Access.
Meanwhile, the ONeducation CD-ROM was also in trouble. Technical challenges were slowing
the project as a whole, and glitches and inaccuracies in the OCC database were slowing the
export of its data, creating serious concerns about OCC's continued participation in the project.
Clarification of responsibilities resulted in OCC and ONTERIS agreeing to work toward
completion of the online catalogue and the ONeducation CD-ROM.
The Royal Commission on Learning
Meanwhile, things were changing quickly throughout the education community. On 26 January
1995, the Royal Commission on Learning published its findings. These were the product of
eighteen months of public consultations and deliberations during which approximately 5000 oral
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