The BC Ministry of Education uses an accreditation process which involves the school and the community. The Ministry also examines how grant money is spent and what results that achieves. B.C. These measurements have been criticized by educators for not accounting for the different situations that exist between schools and for focusing solely on academic performance. Another jurisdiction, Ontario, has attempted to improve and reform their measurement of what exactly they receive for their educational dollar. Opinion is also divided on whether they have been sucessful.
Information related to all four of the above topics is on the evaluating schools page.
In British Columbia teacher evaluation is done at the school level by the school administration. Teacher testing is not a policy plank of any party in this election however, we have included it since it is often discussed when people talk about making the system more accountable. We have included policy and commentary from Ontario which has pursued measures to test teachers on a regular basis to ensure they are capable of teaching the curriculum. The Liberal party of BC has included in its platform a pledge to make education an essential service. The NDP states they respect the collective bargaining process but did legislate striking CUPE workers in the education system back to work in 2000 after CUPE picket lines had closed schools for a week.