a history of curriculum services canada

VIII. 1998
January
The new year began with the offer of a generous donation of $25,000 from Compucentre
Toronto. This money was to be put towards web support, including necessary changes in design,
hosting, and ongoing technical operations.
Several professional projects were initiated in the new year. These included formal meetings
with the Knowledge Connection team to develop a funding proposal for online Professional
Learning opportunities for teachers. The goal of this project was to help teachers reach a
common understanding of curriculum standards. Interlynx Multimedia was also contacted in an
attempt to develop a proposal for the creation and mounting (on the OCC website) of parent
materials for homework assistance and remedial help. Focus groups for this project were to be
held in February.
The Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs approached OCC to develop teaching and learning
materials on the Ontario Speaks: A Dialogue on National Unity Curriculum Unit, an MIA
initiative. This unit was produced on the new OCC website in both English and French, by a
team of teachers mentored by OCC and letters were sent to all principals and Social Science
Department Heads to promote the materials. There were connecting links between the MIA and
OCC websites.
It was also time to both revamp the OCC evaluation framework and refine the OCC review
process so that it better reflected the changes in Provincial Curriculum. The consulting staff of
the Halton Board of Education, under the leadership of Kit Rankin, Superintendent of Program
Services for the Halton Board, was contracted for a period of two months to complete this task.
The bias assessment tool was incorporated into the new evaluation framework at this time,
following the recent success of its final review.
Discussions regarding who might be an appropriate Director from the volunteer community
resumed in the new year, with Walter Gowing presented and later confirmed as an acceptable
candidate. Gowing had previously been an OPSBA representative on the Board and also had
extensive experience in the volunteer sector.
March 31 was fast approaching, with no apparent provisions for extended funding from the
Ministry. In view of this situation, an unsolicited proposal was developed and submitted to the
Ministry with the idea of reviewing learning materials on behalf of the Ministry. It was
suggested that, if successful, OCC could be funded on a contractual basis, rather than under a
grant structure. This proposal again raised the issue of OCC’s role in the implementation of
Ontario’s curriculum, with the attendant concern for copyright of the Evaluator.
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