Mr. Fawcett questions Minister of Education about AISI initiative
The following is copied from the February 11, 2010 printed transcripts of the Legislative debate and discussion.
Mr. Fawcett (Calgary-North Hill PC): Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Approximately $572 million have been put into the Alberta initiative
for school improvement since 2002. What I’ve heard from a lot of
teachers and students and parents is that this money takes teachers
out of the classroom and puts them into administrative or management-type
roles. I’m curious as to what value taxpayers and students are
receiving through this program. To the Minister of Education: are
there any quantitative measurements in place to measure the
outcomes of the AISI program?
Mr. Hancock (Edmonton-Whitemud PC): Mr. Speaker, first of all,
let me say that we’re celebrating the 10th anniversary of the AISI program.
It has been an outstanding success for the Alberta education system. All AISI
projects must meet criteria and requirements set out by the Education
Partners Steering Committee, which is comprised of government,
teachers, school authorities, parents, and educational institutions.
I can tell you that there are very, very few circumstances
where the process of AISI would take teachers out of the classroom
and put money into administration. It’s about teachers in the
classroom doing applied research, and they’re doing it very well.
The Speaker: The hon. member.
Mr. Fawcett: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure that happens
all the time.
To the same minister: what measurable improvements in student
outcomes can be attributed to the AISI program?
Mr. Hancock: Well, Mr. Speaker, there are hundreds of examples
of AISI projects which have improved results in literacy, in numeracy,
in First Nations, Métis, and Inuit education practices, in
distance learning, in student engagement, just to name a few. All
results from the 10-year history are available publicly on the
Education website. We have compiled reports and done studies on
the various sectors of the AISI research to show, first of all, its
impact, and secondly, to be able to share it so that the results of
those projects can be used by other people.
The Speaker: The hon. member.
Mr. Fawcett: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A couple weeks ago the
minister spoke to the Calgary Association of Parents and School
Councils and indicated that it was important for government to
maximize its finite resources. Again to the Minister of Education:
has any cost-benefit analysis been done to determine if AISI is
indeed the best value per dollar as compared to something as, let’s
say, reducing class sizes or simply just increasing the base instructional
grants to school boards?
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, it’s always necessary to learn how to do
things better. You can learn how to do things better by doing
research on the job; applied research is a very effective tool. It’s
more than just about money to schools. It empowers educators to be
involved in the evolution of teaching and learning and learning how
to do things better and then sharing that learning. They have to be
able to take risks. Not all AISI projects succeed. If all of them
succeeded, we wouldn’t be pushing the envelope hard enough and
far enough. So it’s important. We’ve done a 10-year review, and
what came back from that 10-year review, I’ll just say one thing:
world-class, world-leading example of a system-wide educational
strategy that inspires teachers and administrators. That’s the
succinct statement that I can give you from the review that says that
AISI is working for Albertans. (95)
