Governance

The BCeSIS project will be managed by the FNSA through its administrative agreement with FNESC. FNESC will recruit, appoint and manage the Project Coordinator and the Project Manager who will be tasked with the implementation and support of this project. The Project Manager will be accountable for reporting out to the Project Coordinator who will report to the FNSA and FNESC boards. The Project Manager and the Project Coordinator will also be assisted by a Steering Commitee comprised of FNSA board members and a Working Group comprised of educators and administrators from First Nations schools. These groups will communicate with their respective schools and regions on the successes and challenges of the project. They will also, as frontline practitioners, inform the process from the perspective of an end-user.

Governance is the model of how FNESC, as an organization, will set up the decision-making process regarding BCeSIS. The model will outline the responsibilities for all members of the project such as school representatives and the project team regarding such items as agreeing to implement BCeSIS, scheduling times for implementation, providing access for BCeSIS training, determining fee structures (if any) and interacting with the BCeSIS team at the FNESC and Ministry level.

Background to BCeSIS Project

First Nations schools in BC manage student information in a variety of ways depending on administrative and technological capacity, school size and access to systems. Student information can be characterized as being any or all information which pertains to a student's profile including personal information which impacts on the student's education. Typically student information includes records of attendance, achievement, special needs, contact details, relevant parental information and medical information. Student information is also used to track academic progression and grade transition and is sometimes used to assist with student report writing. Current student information systems in use in First Nations schools include Report Writer, Open Source, ESCAN and HARTS. More commonly paper files are used to collate and retain student data.

In 2003, the BC Ministry of Education distributed a Request for Proposals for a comprehensive common student information system which could be utilized as a single source database in school districts throughout BC. The selected database was the British Columbia (BC) electronic Student Information System (BCeSIS), a product designed by an Ontario based technology company, providing access to a central student registry and permanent student record. Once implemented it is expected that the new system will provide a significant enhancement to current administrative procedures and provide in depth reporting capability. BCeSIS utilizes state of the art technology which allows the data to be stored in a central database with access to the data through a web front-end interface. This allows each component to be managed separately and by separate parties if need be. From a First Nations schools perspective this means First Nations schools do not have to concern themselves with any of the technical back-end database or application components - they only have to ensure that users have connection to the internet and an appropriate Browser.

In 2004/2005 the BC Ministry of Education began its implementation of BCeSIS in school districts throughout BC. The implementation has been met with varying degrees of success depending on the student information systems that were historically in use in the school district, the school district size and the administrative resources available within the school district.

One important issue for First Nations education is the matter of transition for First Nations students between grade levels and between First Nations schools and provincial schools. Commonly when First Nations students make the transition between a federally funded school located on reserve and a provincial school, the complete set of information pertaining to that student and his/her academic and personal history does not always follow that student. This also means that students sometimes cannot be traced and can seem to "disappear" from official records

Implementing effective data gathering systems regarding education has been a priority for BC First Nations for a number of years. In 2004, the FNSA implemented the School Measures and Data Collection project. A data collection instrument, formulated by First Nations, was distributed to First Nations schools and was completed by 35 schools representing 41% of the student population in First Nations schools in BC. The results of the survey were mixed, but demonstrated how accurate data may negate the misconceptions concerning First Nations schools, First Nations parents and First Nations students. Having a strong belief in the ability of data to inform and prioritize activity and influence policy, the FNSA at its 2005 Annual General Meeting (AGM) agreed that the BCeSIS system would be an extremely beneficial system to implement in First Nations schools.

The benefit of the BCeSIS is twofold in that it will provide a common information system which could more easily facilitate the transfer of student data between First Nations schools and provincial schools. It will also provide a comprehensive common student information data system which could improve the efficiency and method of data collection practices within First Nations schools. The protocols surrounding the exchange of information between First Nations schools and provincial schools have yet to be determined but would always be respectful of the privacy of the student and his/her parents.