a history of curriculum services canada

2003
XII. 2002
January - June
The year 2002 arrived amidst a flurry of activities. Review services and website monitoring and
construction were ongoing. The awards process was in full swing, with more than $50,000
having been distributed thus far, and CSC wanted to focus on promoting the Janice Thomson
Memorial Award.
Professional Learning Services was now at its pilot testing stage, as training packages to support
curriculum writing were now almost ready. School boards were being approached already and
visits confirmed. This was part of the new Strategic Plan - to approach the grassroots of
education through presentations with heads of curriculum in selected school boards. A keynote
presentation and display was also made at OPSBA Symposium 2002.
Several presentations were made in the new year, with certain partnerships in mind. One of
these was to the Dean, Associate Deans and Chairs of OISE/UT, where congratulations for
CSC’s accomplishments were given and serious discussions of a partnership made. A meeting
with Crayola led to a partnership, through sales of selected products in pdstore. A presentation
to GBS Securities was made in an attempt to get feedback on pitching to the corporate sector.
Finally, another presentation to the Roots of Empathy Program for Parenting for Elementary
Children was made, which resulted in an evaluation contract.
Proposals for business developments were also initiated and sent out. These included proposals
to EDU for the evaluation of Grade 12 textbooks and E-ordering, and for extending the use of
Course Profiles and marketing them on CD-ROM. A letter was sent to the Ontario Association
of Career Colleges with the suggestion that CSC evaluate textbooks for all private colleges. A
plan to import the ONTERIS database to CSC was in the process of being developed. And a
proposal to the Children’s Secretariat was submitted, with the idea of CSC managing the Call
For Resources for Early Years Program. Six partners provided letters of support for this
proposal (i.e., CERC, KPRDSB, NCDSB, OISE/UT Library, Roots of Empathy Program,
TDSB).
Other proposals were in various states of development. The proposal to Rogers iMedia to fund
the development of an evaluation tool for online databases was accepted in theory, with
budgetary constraints holding up the venture. The Inukshuk partnership unfortunately was not
realized, with lack of funding cited as the main obstacle.
Perhaps most critical of all, CSC was still waiting to hear about the Replacement Policy for
Circular 14. When the official announcement finally came on May 31, it was good news for
CSC. The Ontario Curriculum Centre (OCC), the provincial affiliate of CSC dedicated to
Ontario Ministry of Education contract fulfillment, was designated by the Ministry as the
evaluation agency to support curriculum in English-language schools. This new policy is
referred to as “Guidelines for Approval of Textbooks” and listings of approved resources will be
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