That is a mighty good question, Bostonian. And I am disturbed to admit I can't come up with any. And I counted twice. Aquinas, help!
Education is purely provincial jurisdiction here. There is no national law, policy or even a point of contact. So reality varies considerably across provinces, as each sets their own policy, curriculum, assessment, rules for teachers, standards for hiring, etc. School Boards then implement. In our province, Board autonomy was severely reduced about ten years ago; in other provinces, Boards may have a bit more scope for decision-making.
I was so thrown by my complete blank that I had to go surfing, but still found nothing new. There is, of course, provincial law related to education, but I've never seen it referenced in all my research on educational options for my kids - so I suspect it's general enough to not have much impact at the policy level. We have a new provincial education renewal strategy to go with a new government. Lots of warm and fuzzy. No accountability. There IS oodles of policy: I generally find it detailed in the extreme on the nature of process, but scarce on content or outcomes.
For instance, with both gifted and LDs, I have found endless policy and procedure on how to ask for a child to be identified, and the process of producing an IEP, and everybody's rights and responsibilities in these processes. But then? The school/ board must provide "appropriate placement and supports" - the nature of which are entirely discretionary, and no expectations or outcomes are specified. Both my DC's (gifted/ LD) IEPs fundamentally boil down to "the teacher will provide appropriate accommodations and differentiation". Period. With provincial policy heavily invested in inclusion, tracking is anathema, and as Aquinas stated, separate GT classrooms are rapidly going the same way. And many smaller boards never had specialized classrooms for GT or LDs in the first place. (And just to add to the fun and games, while acceleration is theoretically acceptable by the province - under extreme circumstances - most boards flatly refuse under any circumstances. I've never heard of compacting or other strategies occurring around here.) Our board does have one gifted advisor (job vacant most of the last two years), but they are there to help the board and the schools; they don't return phone calls from parents.
In that quintessential Canadian way, we provide almost everybody with pretty OK education. But we don't deal with outliers well. And so deep in the DNA that no one even notices it's there is 'equality', the foundation that makes Canada so wonderful and so frustrating. Somehow, it has morphed into idea that equality means we treat everyone the same, and if we do it right, we will then achieve equality of outcomes. And we truly believe, in every sector I have ever worked in, that the best route to equality is to rein in the outliers on the right, rather than move the curve forward from the left.
Whew! Mostly, I am extraordinarily happy to be Canadian, but I confess some threads on this board just make me drool.
