CANADA-ONTARIO AGREEMENT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ADDITIONAL STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT THE ENHANCEMENT OF FRENCH-LANGUAGE EDUCATION
2005-2009
BUSINESS PLAN 2005-06 TO 2008-09

Ministry of Education
French-Language Education
Policy and Programs Branch

Revised on February 27, 2006

PREAMBLE

Introduction

The Canada-Ontario Agreement on Additional Strategies renews the partnership between the federal government and the Ontario government through a series of distinct measures to improve elementary and secondary education in Ontario's minority language. The attached Business Plan describes measures designed to meet important needs identified by the French-Language Education Policies and Programs Branch of the Ministry of Education and by representatives of the French-language education system in Ontario.

Ontario's commitment to the federal government's Action Plan for Official Languages

In short, all of the Business Plan's elements – early childhood education, promotion of French-language education, aménagement linguistique, computer-based and multimedia learning, and student services – are strategic components designed to implement the strategies identified with specific reference to minority-language education in the federal government's Action Plan for Official Languages. They reflect the Ontario government's firm commitment to meet the challenges of French-language education in a minority setting. Ontario will also work closely with Canadian Heritage at the national level to develop a methodology for setting specific targets for recruitment of children whose parents have education rights, student retention and secondary school graduation. Ontario will make every effort to guarantee a link between early childhood, secondary and postsecondary education and will keep Canadian Heritage informed on this matter, particularly in the context of the negotiations for an agreement on minority-language education. The aim is to ensure student success and an improvement in minority-language education in Ontario and throughout Canada and to successfully achieve the long-term outcomes identified in the Canada-Ontario Agreement's Business Plan and the federal government's Action Plan for Official Languages.

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Through the Canada-Ontario Agreement, Ontario presents its vision for French-language education, while acknowledging the objectives in the federal government's Action Plan for Official Languages. Ontario's Business Plan describes the strategies that Ontario will use to pursue its objectives and achieve the targeted outcomes. More specifically, the Business Plan is designed to ensure that the French language and culture thrive, grow and develop. Ontario wants to increase the number of children of parents with education rights who enrol in French-language schools and to increase the number of Francophone high school graduates by offering high-quality French-language programs, services and resources. Those programs will be supported by qualified, committed teachers who are able to deliver education programs in a minority context. The partnership between Canada and Ontario, as formalized in the Agreement, will help to improve access to French-language education, the quality of the available programs and services, and student achievement.

The Province of Ontario intends to ensure the viability of French-language schools through increased enrolment and student retention in those schools. The district school boards will promote Canada's linguistic duality by promoting French-language education with a view to recruiting more children with education rights and fostering student retention. The Ministry of Education and the French-language district school boards will focus on the development of student proficiency in French, either as their mother tongue or, in some cases, as their adopted language. The district school boards plan to develop early childhood education programs, including actualisation linguistique en français (ALF) programs, commonly referred to as francization programs, to ensure that children get off to a good start and to promote academic success. Perfectionnement du français (PDF) programs will help immigrants become part of the community. The boards also want to capitalize on the progress that has been made so far by forging closer ties with all families in their communities, including endogamous, exogamous and immigrant families.

Target enrolment base

In her research paper entitled "Droits, écoles et communautés en milieu minoritaire : 1986 – 2002. Analyse pour un aménagement du français par l'éducation " [rights, schools and communities in a minority setting, 1986-2002: an analysis for the development of the French language through education], Angeline Martel identifies an aspect of the current situation that the French-language schools can use to set targets. She reports that between 1986 and 1996, Ontario's French-mother-tongue population grew slightly in absolute terms, from 484,265 to 499,690, but declined as a proportion of the province's total population from 5.3% to 4.7%. She points out that there has been a significant increase in Ontario's target enrolment base, which she defines as children with one parent who is a Canadian citizen and whose mother tongue is French. The proportion of the target base enrolled in Ontario schools rose from 53.5% in 1986 – i.e., 72,555 out of the 135,612 children with education rights – to 64.1% in 1996 – i.e., 75,096 out of 117,127. Ms. Martel suggests that, with aménagement linguistique measures, Ontario's French-language schools could increase their share of the target base to 75% by 2010. Ontario will determine the target on the basis of the most recent statistics. It will work with the federal government to identify the national target in discussions held by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC).

Recruitment of members of the target enrolment base and student retention

The Ministry realizes that it is difficult to estimate how many students in the target enrolment base can be recruited because there is not enough detailed information on people with French-language education rights or demographic data on the Francophone population. Currently, the figures used to determine Ontario's allocation under the Protocol on Minority-Language Education, formerly known as the Official Languages in Education Program (OLEP), are based on 2001-2002 data collected by Statistics Canada's Centre for Education Statistics. The latter's report indicates that Ontario's target enrolment base is 126,455, that the number of students enrolled in French-language schools is 96,507 (37.72%) and that the number of students not enrolled is 29,948 (33.1%). The Ministry of Education of Ontario will determine the target enrolment base using data collected by the French-language district school boards when they prepared their school profiles in 2005-2006. Some of those data will also provide statistics on the retention of students enrolled in French-language schools. Moreover, the Ontario government, recognizing that the ability to recruit and retain students is affected by the quality of instruction offered in the French-language schools, plans to become a national and international leader in this field and has placed public education at the centre of its mandate. The first step has been to improve student performance in literacy and numeracy. As an initial step toward achieving this level of excellence, the government requires that every 12-year-old student have strong skills in writing, reading, comprehension and mathematics. To measure their progress, the government has set a target: 75% of Grade 6 students must achieve the provincial standard (Level 3) on the provincial reading, writing and mathematics tests by 2008.

The French-Language Education Policies and Programs Branch of the Ministry of Education plans to pursue its discussions with the district school boards and, with their cooperation, to study the issue in greater depth in order to arrive at a better understanding of the factors that influence student retention. That study should make it possible to set reasonable targets and introduce programs and initiatives that will have a real impact on the retention of Francophone students. The Branch will also pursue its research into targets for recruiting students with education rights, increasing high school graduation rates, and increasing high school graduate enrolment in French-language colleges and bilingual universities. The work is being done in meetings of provincial committees for the implementation of the Aménagement Linguistique Policy and the Learning to 18 initiative.

Student success on the provincial tests and the School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP)

For the last year for which figures are available (2003-2004), the results of the Grade 3 and Grade 6 reading, writing and mathematics tests showed an improvement at the provincial level. According to the results of the Grade 3 provincial tests, 49% of Francophone students met the provincial standard in reading, 63% in writing, and 55% in mathematics. The results also show that Grade 3 students in French-language schools fared better than their English-language school counterparts in writing. Grade 6 students in French-language schools had better results than their English-language school counterparts, as 63% achieved the provincial standard in reading, 68% in writing, and 70% in mathematics. CMEC's study of the SAIP results, which was coordinated by Ontario, shows how important proficiency in the French language is to learning in a minority setting. Through their schools, the district school boards will introduce measures to enhance the status and use of French in social, cultural, academic and administrative contexts.

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Aménagement Linguistique Policy

On October 27, 2004, Education Minister Gerard Kennedy announced his Ministry's new Aménagement Linguistique Policy at a special event. Aménagement linguistique is the institutional planning of systemic and strategic actions to ensure the transmission of the French language and culture in minority communities. The policy helps the French-language school boards and the Ministry of Education of Ontario to fulfil their obligations under section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It mandates all French-language school boards to develop, "in collaboration with parents and community organizations," a local aménagement linguistique policy that "promotes the fulfilment of the French-language school's mandate" in order to improve student learning.

While the number of Francophones in Ontario is growing, the proportion of the Ontario population who reported French as their mother tongue declined from 5% in 1991 to 4.5% in 2001. The proportion of Francophones who use English at home rose from 36.9% to 40.3% over the same period. Many children start school with little or no ability to speak French. For some students, this deficit can lead to language difficulties that affect their academic results. Many students suffer from linguistic and cultural insecurity. That insecurity can cause self-esteem problems and may partially account for the declining retention rates, which are due to the fact that large numbers of students leave between Grades 8 and 9, and between kindergarten and Grade 1. Through actions taken in response to the Aménagement Linguistique Policy, the French-language education community hopes to overcome assimilation factors by targeting oral communication and integration of culture into the curriculum in order to develop the skills needed for learning and identity-building.

The Aménagement Linguistique Policy helps educational institutions improve their capability to create learning and teaching conditions that foster the transmission of the French language and culture to ensure the academic success of all students and support the long-term development of Ontario's French-language community. The conceptual framework is based on five priority areas. The priority areas and the expected outcomes are as follows:

1. Learning
2. Identity-building

The expected outcome for these two priority areas is to achieve the government's provincial target of having 75% of Grade 6 students attain the provincial standard in reading, writing and mathematics by 2008. This requires an increase in students' capacity to acquire oral communication skills in order to maximize learning and identity-building.

3. Participatory leadership
4. Parent and community commitment

The expected outcome for these two priority areas is to meet the government's target for student success. This requires an increase in teachers' capacity to work in a minority setting and in the community's capacity to support academic learning and identity-building in each student.

5. Institutional vitality

The expected outcome for this priority area is to increase the education system's capacity to deliver high-quality programs and services from kindergarten to Grade 12 and to assist the French-language district school boards in their efforts to curb assimilation and maintain and increase enrolment. This supports the government's ultimate goal, which is to foster the long-term development of a strong and prosperous Francophone community.

To promote cohesion throughout Ontario's Francophone community, the district school boards will introduce measures to encourage high school graduates to pursue a postsecondary education in French and to help them get into French-language colleges and bilingual universities or join the workforce. They will also promote the community's vitality through closer ties between the institutions that serve it, such as schools, French-language daycare centres, nursery schools, cultural centres, immigration services and bilingual businesses.

The policy provides a framework for the aménagement linguistique component of the Agreement's Business Plan. The Business Plan of the 2005-2008 Canada-Ontario Agreement was amended so that its strategies and short-term and medium-term outcomes reflect the aims of the Aménagement Linguistique Policy.

The three main expected outcomes of the Aménagement Linguistique Policy are as follows:

A. Students
Increased capacity to acquire the oral communication skills needed to maximize learning and identity-building

B. School staff
Increased capacity to work in a minority setting in order to support each student's academic learning and identity development

C. School board
Increased capacity to maintain and expand enrolment so as to contribute to the vitality of French-language schools and the Francophone community

• In 2004-2005, the French-Language Education Policies and Programs Branch, in conjunction with the French-language district school boards and education organizations, broadened the terms of reference of the Comité provincial de l'aménagement linguistique [provincial aménagement linguistique committee] and transformed it into the Comité de coordination provincial de l'aménagement linguistique [provincial aménagement linguistique coordination committee]. The committee's mandate is to involve the key players at every stage of the Aménagement Linguistique Policy planning and implementation process. The Branch also established six committees to implement the Aménagement Linguistique Policy.

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Those committees are expected to achieve the outcomes described below.

1. Comité de communication orale [oral communication committee]: Development of a research corpus on the oral communication skills required to maximize student learning and identity-building in a minority setting; development of provincial benchmarks; training for staff on the use of the new tools.

2. Comité de l'engagement parentale et communautaire [parent and community commitment committee]: A variety of strategies for reaching parents to help them participate in their children's education. Development of parent and community commitment pilot projects and establishment of school community projects.

3. Comité en matière de promotion, de recrutement et de rétention des élèves [promotion, recruitment and retention committee]: An increase in enrolment and parent and community participation in school activities; a higher level of satisfaction with their participation; a better understanding of the French-language school system and the Francophone community among immigrants and newcomers from other provinces; a higher retention rate for students in French-language schools.

4. Comité en matière de compétences en enseignement en milieu minoritaire [committee on teaching skills in minority settings]: Identification of teaching and evaluation strategies to promote student learning in minority settings; specific courses on teaching in a minority setting.

5. Comité en matière de construction identitaire [committee on identity-building]: A work plan that takes current identity-building initiatives into account; models of successful practices that support identity-building; strategies to help define the concept of a Francophone space and conditions that will promote the creation of such a space.

6. Comité de gestion axé sur les résultats [results-based management committee]: A participatory approach; a common roadmap including measurable outcomes set by consensus; performance indicators and associated evaluation frameworks; a preliminary strategy for collecting data on the efficiency, effectiveness and impact of actions taken; a draft analysis strategy for the development of recommendations on how to achieve the three provincial outcomes of the Aménagement Linguistique Policy.

The Aménagement Linguistique Policy is intended as an instrument of planned change, i.e., a tool for culturing systems (schools, boards, etc.). This culturing process relies on the qualities that are unique to the Francophone community and its school system. The Policy recognizes that teaching and learning in Ontario's French-language schools requires special abilities, skills and knowledge and that its successful implementation depends on new partnerships and community participation.

The six committees will help the district school boards develop a school profile of the Francophone population they serve. The profile will inform the Aménagement Linguistique Policy implementation strategies by identifying important needs in the school communities and their residents' linguistic behaviour. The profile will be developed in a provincial framework through the Comité de gestion axé sur les résultats [results-based management committee]. On the basis of that profile, the school boards will develop their local aménagement linguistique policies and will be able to identify the expected outcomes for those policies.

The Aménagement Linguistique Policy offers an innovative approach to the implementation of the Ministry's priorities and provides a unique instrument for grasping the Ministry's priorities and projects, studying them in light of the challenges and needs of Ontario's French-language community, carrying them out in accordance with that reality, and achieving the desired outcomes while promoting the community's long-term growth and development.

Research

The Ministry wants to develop closer ties between the French-language district school boards, other education partners, faculties of education and the universities to ensure that research plans reflect their concerns with regard to French-language education in Ontario. The district school boards want to respond effectively to the challenges that they are facing, such as recruiting students with education rights, retaining students, recruiting administrators and teachers, providing the training and development required to deliver high-quality education in a minority setting, improving student achievement, increasing the high school graduation rate, and increasing the proportion of French-language high school graduates who enrol in French-language colleges or bilingual universities. To that end, the district school boards must clearly identify and understand the factors associated with those challenges. The studies will lay the groundwork for discussion and help identify what action needs to be taken to develop French-language education.

Computer-based and multimedia learning

The Ministry of Education supports small schools by helping them offer a wider range of courses at the secondary level. This in turn helps students earn their secondary school diploma and pursue their plans to enter college or university or join the workforce. A total of 102 high school courses are currently being delivered by videoconference to more than 328 students in about 60 French-language schools. The district school boards cannot use their regular grants from the Ontario government to pay for a provincial network, which is the solution to some problems associated with being in a minority situation. This delivery method is associated with the federal government's Action Plan in that the delivery of programs and services through new technologies promotes student recruitment and retention and ensures that students can continue their education in French at the postsecondary level.

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Financial contributions by the two levels of government under the Agreement

Ontario's contribution under the Agreement is over and above the regular funding it provides to the French-language district school boards. The partnership offered by the federal government under this Agreement will help improve access to French-language education. It will also help improve the performance of Ontario's French-language students through high-quality programs, services and resources.

General funding of French-language education by the Ministry of Education

The Ministry and the French-language district school boards have made a number of choices regarding the strategies and measures to be implemented in 2004-2005, taking into account the funding that is available to meet the needs identified in this Business Plan. The Ministry is in the process of updating the working paper on the directions of the Business Plan to make it more consistent with the overall Business Plan for 2005-2009.

New investments by the Province of Ontario are in addition to the investments made under the Agreement on Minority-Language Education, formerly known as the Official Languages in Education Program. These new investments are for specific strategies and outcomes, which differ from, and complement, those funded under the Agreement on Minority-Language Education. Part of Ontario's contribution comes from additional funds made available to the district school boards, based on factors that favour Francophones, to ensure both quality and equality in minority-language education.

In 2002, the Conseil ontarien des directions d'éducation en langue française (CODELF), the Association des conseillères et des conseillers des écoles publiques de l'Ontario (ACEPO) and the Association franco-ontarienne des conseils scolaires catholiques (AFOCSC) presented a brief to the Education Equality Task Force, whose final report (the Rozanski Report) was entitled "Investing in Public Education: Advancing the Goal of Continuous Improvement in Student Learning and Achievement". The report of the French-language education organizations contained recommendations concerning the funding requirements for French-language education, which totalled $100 million. The Rozanski Report, which was submitted to the Minister of Education on December 10, 2002, contained a recommendation that specifically addressed French-language education.

Recommendation 14:

The Ministry of Education [should] review the brief submitted to the task force by the 12 French-language school
boards, together with the Association des conseillères et des conseillers des écoles publiques de l'Ontario and the
Association franco-ontarienne des conseils scolaires catholiques, and amend the funding formula as appropriate to
ensure that each of the grants in the formula recognizes the higher costs experienced by French-language boards
in delivering education programs and services.

In response to the report, the Ministry of Education established the French-Language Education Strategy Task Force to develop a consensus among education organizations regarding recommendation 14 of the Rozanski Report. In the November 2003 Speech from the Throne, the government announced its intention to act on recommendation 14:

"[Your government] acknowledges the urgent need for a francophone education strategy and will strike a task
force immediately to ensure that all Ontario children receive an excellent education."

The Task Force submitted its report to Education Minister Gerard Kennedy on March 31, 2004. The report contained an analysis of the impediments to French-language education. It also suggested what measures should be taken to correct the funding problems facing French-language education. The total cost of those measures was $120 million. In response to the report, the Minister announced the allocation of an additional $30 million in 2004-2005. Specifically, those funds were earmarked for the French-language schools' mandate in the areas of actualisation linguistique du français (ALF) (part-time support staff, educational resources and homework support), leadership by the district school boards (wages and benefits of an education consultant or an ALF coordinator) and animation culturelle (a leader for animation culturelle and cultural activities).

It should be noted that the additional $30 million that Ontario provided to the French-language district school boards is an on-going contribution and that other sources of funding, such as grants for various Ministry initiatives (language learning, special education, small schools, etc.), favour Francophones in particular.

In 2004-2005, the ACEPO and the AFOCSC submitted a study on the subject of French-language high schools and their funding. A follow-on to the work of the French-Language Education Strategy Task Force, the report explained that French-language high schools are small schools and recommended a further $16 million in funding to provide a firmer financial base, which would make it possible to introduce more specialized programs, purchase materials, provide transportation for students and so on, which in turn would increase the schools' viability.

On May 31, 2005, Education Minister Gerard Kennedy announced an additional investment of about $20 million for the French-language district school boards. That allocation was earmarked for program and service delivery, including $13.5 million for the Actualisation de la langue française program. The remaining $6.5 million, announced on June 24, 2005, will be used to support literacy and numeracy initiatives, Learning to 18 initiatives, and an increase in the number of high school courses.

On June 24, 2005, the Ontario government announced a further contribution of some $70 million for the French-language district school boards. That funding increase will help the boards meet their obligations in the areas of literacy and numeracy, Learning to 18, the Student Success Program, aménagement linguistique policies, human resources, transportation, and upgrading of school facilities.

In 2005-2006, the Province of Ontario is investing at least $17.2 billion in education, including at least $976 million for the French-language district school boards. The latter amount is 5.67% of the total budget for all school boards in Ontario. Moreover, the French-language district school boards have received an increase of 61% since 1998, compared with 27% for the English-language boards.

The additional funding is intended to help the boards fulfil their obligations with respect to the Ontario government's education goals of improving student performance, narrowing the gap between good students and underperforming students, and boosting public trust.

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Upgrading school facilities

On February 17, 2005, the Ontario government announced the establishment of a $280 million annual fund to repair, expand or replace schools. School boards throughout the province will have access on an annual basis to the $280 million, which is included in a $6.8 billion capital investment (between 2003 and 2007) to repair and expand existing schools and build new ones. Of that $6.8 billion, the French-language district school boards will receive about $300.4 million, or 4.4%.

The funds for upgrading school facilities will come from the province's contribution alone and therefore may not be transferred or offset by other categories of funding in the Business Plan. This funding will be used to increase the visibility of the French-language schools and to provide a learning environment conducive to the recruitment and retention of Francophone students in French-language schools.

Consulting the French-language school boards

The French-Language Education Policies and Programs Branch of the Ministry of Education will work with the French-language district school boards on an ongoing basis through a joint committee made up of Ministry and board representatives. The committee's mandate is to define processes for planning, managing and evaluating projects under the Agreement. The committee also serves as a forum for consultations on updating the working paper on the directions of the Business Plan of the Agreement on Additional Strategies.

Accountability measures

Ontario has taken a rigorous approach through an accountability process by creating a framework for planning, managing and evaluating all of the Agreement's components. In addition to a five-year Business Plan, which is being used to develop an evaluation framework, the French-Language Education Policies and Programs Branch periodically reviews the tools used for planning and results-based management of the projects to be carried out under the Agreement. In cooperation with a consulting firm that has expertise in program evaluation, the Branch is also developing the tools it needs to collect data to help the district school boards carry out their own project evaluations and, ultimately, conduct a formal evaluation of the Agreement's outcomes and activities.

Conclusion

All the measures included in the Business Plan of the Agreement on Additional Strategies for 2005-2009 are consistent with the provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Constitution concerning minority-language education. Canadian Heritage and the Ministry of Education of Ontario have agreed that the 2004-2005 Interim Agreement is an important part of a comprehensive agreement and that it will serve as a cornerstone for the Business Plan of the Canada-Ontario Agreement for 2005-2009.

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