N.W.T. education system criticized by MLAs, audit

The Northwest Territories' Education Department faced tough questions from MLAs on Wednesday about the territory's school system, following a critical audit by federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser.

Fraser's report highlighted a number of problems with the N.W.T.'s education system, namely a lack of data and analysis of how effective early education, post-secondary and job training programs are.

A major issue Fraser's audit found was that while the N.W.T.'s graduation rates have been climbing since 2005, students have been performing the same or worse on tests to measure the quality of their education, such as Alberta Achievement Tests.

"The department has not undertaken formal detailed analyses of the causes underlying the lack of improvement shown by these indicators and has not provided guidance to education councils to aid their development of detailed action plans for improving student performance against these same indicators," stated Fraser's audit report, released last month.

Appearing before the N.W.T. legislature's standing committee on government operations on Wednesday, deputy education minister Dan Daniels said graduation rates have gone up because high school education is being provided in smaller communities.

But Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya said the quality of education in smaller communities is not on par with larger communities.

"A lot of kids who have graduated are walking around with their hands in their pocket, kicking the dust on a road, or trying to find a job," Yakeleya said.

"That is frustrating for leaders who are telling the kids to go to school."

The Education Department has developed an action plan to address the issues raised in the audit. But Fraser, who was in Yellowknife this week, said the action plan does not have enough information.

"We would've liked to have seen a little more detail in their responses and a little more commitment to specific actions by a certain timeline," she said.

"A lot of their responses are fairly general you know, 'We'll look at the possibility of doing something.'"

Fraser said the Education Department also needs to develop a detailed long-term strategy to improve student performance.