Key Initiatives

Atlantic Student Tracking System

In April 2024, CAMET released the Report Post-Secondary Education Choices and Labour Market Outcomes of High School Graduates in the Atlantic Provinces. This research was undertaken by the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training (NB-IRDT) at the request of CAMET.

The study explored the post-secondary education choices and labour market outcomes of high school graduates in the Atlantic provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia using a linked data set containing school records from kindergarden through grade 12, post-secondary education records and income tax records. The report covers three dimensions of research for high school graduates of each province:

Post-secondary education choices of graduates
Interprovincial mobility and retention rates of graduates from high school and post-secondary education
Labour market outcomes (employment and income) of graduates from high school and post-secondary education

The Atlantic Student Tracking project provides access to standardized statistics that are accurate, timely, region- and province-customized, useful, and comparable. Analysis resulting from this initiative will lead to strategic policies that will enhance outcomes for students through improved transitions and pathways within and across public school, post- secondary education and the labour force; and that ultimately may lead to increased post-secondary education participation rates, and improved skills match between education and employment. Better data and analysis have a positive impact on government decisions by:

Targeting programs and services to their intended recipients
Evaluating the impact of government programs and policies
Developing in-depth understanding of the unique pathways of sub-groups of students
Fostering social innovation and continuous improvement
Ensuring the investments in K/P-12 and post-secondary education are properly aligned and produce meaningful and measurable results.

The tracking of student data was conducted using a combination of existing data files. This included data from each department of education as well as data that Atlantic universities and colleges currently submit to PSIS. CAMET used the Statistics Canada’s Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform (ELMLP) to link public education student data with the existing post-secondary education student data.

Career Planning Software (myBlueprint)

CAMET manages the license agreement with myBlueprint for the career planning software. Th current agreement expires in August 2025.

Joint Procurement of School Buses

CAMET continues to support Atlantic departments of education, transportation, and government services in the joint purchase of school buses. This important initiative resulted in substantial annual savings for the provinces.

Electric School Bus Feasibility Study

In 2024, CAMET continued its work with the electric school bus feasibility study on behalf on Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador. A contract was awarded to WSP Canada to conduct the study.

The study will develop a roadmap that will enhance the provinces’ knowledge of zero-emission transportation and provide valuable insights for decisions needed to proceed with electrification. The roadmap will also cover infrastructure requirements, timelines, emissions reduction, long-term cost savings, and ensure that the provinces are prepared for deployments.

The study’s overall objective is to help determine the requirements for electrification and assess the feasibility of transitioning school buses in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia to electric power.

In 2023, CAMET signed a contribution agreement with Infrastructure Canada to assist with funding to complete the noted study.

Professional Leaning

The Atlantic provinces, under the auspices of CAMET, have undertaken research to determine the best and most effective models to support and enhance teacher professional learning. The Atlantic departments of education are looking to find out what the best models are to support teachers’ professional learning. More specifically, the research will focus on the following:

A jurisdictional scan (national and international).
Key research findings on what good professional learning looks like.
Who is having success with professional learning?
What are the best models of professional learning?
Strengths and gaps in professional learning models.
What do our current teachers in the Atlantic regions want/need?
Recommendations for professional learning for educators.

The research will be achieved by :

A review/scan of national and international literature on teacher professional learning
Consultations with Departments of Education from the Atlantic region.
Consultations with school boards/districts/regions in each province where appropriate.
Consultations with teachers from the Atlantic region.

The research project will be completed in 2025.

Student Behavior

The Atlantic provinces have also initiated a project to better understand the underlying causes of complex and high-risk behaviour, reducing the chance of severe outcome(s) for students aged 5-21. The increase of disruptive and violent behaviours among students over the last few years in schools across the country has raised concerns. This regional initiative is essential to identify some of the root causes and gather best practices for addressing this issue. A regional approach is proposed to pool resources, knowledge, and expertise from multiple provinces, fostering collaboration and achieving a more holistic understanding of the problem.

This initiative will include the development of a jurisdictional scan and research work on the best and most effective approaches to address severe behaviours in school-aged children and youth in the Atlantic region. Specifically, the research will pursue the following:

Identify factors contributing to severe behaviours in students in the current school environments.
Compile promising practices and strategies employed in schools across the country to address severe behaviours.
Develop recommendations and guidelines for educators and policymakers to be proactive and preventative thereby reducing severe outcomes of complex and high-risk behaviour(s) in schools.

The research project will be completed in 2025.

Atlantic Open Educational Resources

The four Atlantic provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island are working together through CAMET to invest in a 3-year pilot program with AtlanticOER. The total annual CAMET contribution is $202,000 for a total of $606,000. The funding from the pilot program will be used to support efforts to increase the creation, adoption, and adaptation of OER at publicly funded post-secondary institutions across the Atlantic Region.

AtlanticOER is an OER-focused service founded by the Council of Atlantic Academic Libraries / Conseil des bibliothèques postsecondaires de l’Atlantique (CAAL-CBPA)

CAAL-CBPA. It supports the hosting and creation of OER by educators and students in the Atlantic provinces. AtlanticOER has supported the creation of 42 books, impacted over 26,000 students, and had saved students $1,001,437.

With this new funding, the service will be expanding to include:

Upgrades to publishing infrastructure to better assist with the OER creation process;

The expansion of the Atlantic Grant Program to increase the financial support that is provided to educators in the Atlantic region; and

The development of a Peer Review program to facilitate high quality reviews for educational materials that are created.

More details the Atlantic OER can be found at https://atlanticoer-relatlantique.ca