a history of curriculum services canada
a history of curriculum services canada
a history of curriculum services canada
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II. First Steps<br />
The very first step was to assemble a working group to develop the parameters <strong>of</strong> the new<br />
organization. On August 4, 1993, Jim Sebastian and Caroline Di Giovanni <strong>of</strong> the Ministry <strong>of</strong><br />
Education and Training (MET)* met with Gail Anderson <strong>of</strong> the Ontario Public School Board<br />
Association (OPSBA) and a representative <strong>of</strong> the Ontario Catholic Supervisory Officers'<br />
Association (OCSOA).<br />
At this seminal meeting, much <strong>of</strong> the future shape <strong>of</strong> what would become OCC was discussed.<br />
The make-up <strong>of</strong> membership was the first consideration and several organizations, including<br />
Ontario Teachers' Federation (OTF), Ontario Public Supervisory Officers' Association<br />
(OPSOA), and Ontario Separate School Trustees' Association (OSSTA), were discussed as<br />
potential members.<br />
The clearinghouse was to operate as a partnership among the stakeholder groups and it was<br />
determined that the working group should function as a management body, rather than as an<br />
advisory panel. The potential for this work group to become a Board <strong>of</strong> Directors “at arm's<br />
length” from the Ministry was also considered.<br />
As their primary functions, the work group identified co-ordination <strong>of</strong> marketing, contacts,<br />
catalogue development, and the organization as a whole, together with "delivery" <strong>of</strong> the database<br />
- abstracting, cataloguing, and storing. One <strong>of</strong> the group’s first actions was to meet with CFORP<br />
representatives to learn how their organization functioned and how their model might prove<br />
helpful in developing the clearinghouse. Many recommendations were forthcoming relating to<br />
funding, staffing, management, and the collection, pricing, vetting, production, and distribution<br />
<strong>of</strong> materials.<br />
CFORP had started small and remained modest in its approach, gradually winning the trust and<br />
support <strong>of</strong> teachers and the education community. This same approach was recommended for the<br />
new clearinghouse. CFORP also emphasized quality control. While it would likely be necessary<br />
in the beginning to accept most materials in order to establish a database, it was acknowledged<br />
that quality controls should be introduced as early as possible. Stress was also placed on the<br />
need to keep the new service separate from CFORP's service to francophones.<br />
To meet the immediate needs <strong>of</strong> teachers in Ontario, the initial focus <strong>of</strong> the clearinghouse would<br />
be the establishment <strong>of</strong> a mechanism for the sharing <strong>of</strong> English-language Transition Years<br />
resource materials developed by boards and teaching federations. Early visions for a catalogue<br />
included a list <strong>of</strong> human resources, notably Transition Years speaker/specialists, in addition to<br />
traditional print resources. As a result <strong>of</strong> their research, the work group deemed it essential that<br />
every resource listing be accompanied by an abstract (to be produced in house), together with<br />
basic information about the material—number <strong>of</strong> pages, authors, publication date, etc. The<br />
group wrestled with the question <strong>of</strong> user fees, resolving to keep them as low as possible and, to<br />
this end, the option <strong>of</strong> negotiating copyright waivers from boards was discussed.<br />
©2008 Curriculum Services Canada 4