A Culturally Appropiate Model for Measuring Success
Performance Indicators are events, actions or behaviours that are important to a community and its members. The First Nations Performance Indicators Checklist contains items that are potentially important to a community’s educational success. The Performance Indicators, compiled from a number of First Nation sources and documents, are culturally appropriate examples for consideration by both First Nation and non-First Nation communities. Some items may not be appropriate for some communities. Performance Indicators that are not in the Checklist but that are important to a community may be added, and items can be revised to more adequately meet community needs. Space in the Checklist is provided for such additional items.
First Nations measures of success incorporate both collective and individual wellbeing within communities. These measures incorporate a more holistic approach to wellness than is typically seen in Western culture.
Format and Purpose
Checklist items are organized into 17 categories, with each category coded with respect to the four dimensions of personal development: Mental, Emotional, Physical and Spiritual.
The purpose of the Checklist is to help communities:
The purpose of the Checklist is to assist education organizations to support better outcomes for the First Nations students and families they serve by using a culturally appropriate tool to set targets, measure performance and effectiveness, and keep track of progress.
This Checklist can give organizations vital information about what is (or isn’t) happening within the system that can impact student success. It can provide a benchmark or starting point for a system of target-setting that will help implement strategies for growth. This creates increased cultural awareness and puts organizations in a better position to manage their performance proactively.
Strategic visions can be difficult to communicate, but by breaking objectives down into smaller concrete targets, it becomes easier to manage the process of delivering them. In this way, targets form a crucial link between strategy and day-to-day operations.
Using this Checklist can assist organizations to create a basis for adopting and implementing a model for continuous improvement within their systems and to establish accountability frameworks for various jurisdictions at the local, regional, provincial, and national levels.
Understanding the scale
Most people are familiar with some version of the Likert Scale, often used to measure attitudes and preferences in surveys and questionnaires. The boxes on the left are a five-part Likert Scale, consisting of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Undecided (U), Disagree (D), Strongly Disagree (SD). For each Indicator, put an X or a √ in the box that corresponds to the degree to which the community agrees with the Performance Indicator. By checking boxes that best correspond to the circumstances in the community, it will be possible to identify those areas that are in good shape and those that require attention and should be incorporated into the community’s Plan for Student Success.
The Likert scale, used here, represents the most widely used approach to scaling responses in survey research.
