CCQEO is moving forward with a new Board of Directors and a current plan to support the initiatives being developed by Classroom Connections. This document provides a brief overview of both organizations, and identifies the members and advisors of the new Board of Directors.

1. The Canadian Centre For Quality Education And Opportunity

Mission:
The Canadian Centre For Quality Education and Opportunity (CCQEO) is a national, apolitical, charitable organization that works with community partners to understand the conditions that create meaningful, enriching educational experiences, and to help deliver these experiences to students.

Mandate:
CCQEO actively promotes the need for, and where possible lends support to programs that provide optimal learning conditions for Canadian students.

• CCQEO looks to the community at large for funding in order to accomplish its goal of equal access to high quality education and opportunities for all Canadians, as they learn through the auspices of the publicly funded education system in our country.
• The overall approach to this ambitious yet necessary undertaking is to find and allocate resources to complement public funding for education, not replace it.
• In order to do this, CCQEO seeks out mutually beneficial relationships with external partners that build on the strengths of the publicly funded education system and that are rooted in sound educational principles, goals and objectives.
• CCQEO uses its unique access to educational systems to ensure that programs are delivered effectively and efficiently.
  

Current Operation:
Recently, the "Computer School Bus", an important project of CCQEO, ceased to operate. This project had provided ongoing support to public educators in their initial access to and utilization of computer technology. CCQEO is considering other projects which will enhance public education, including those developed by Classroom Connections.

2. Classroom Connections

Mission:
Classroom Connections (CC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging positive social change by strengthening the education and parenting of Canada's youth. The organization was founded on the simple premise that real societal transformation starts with children, and that every child has the ability to make a fundamental change in our world, with the two greatest forces shaping that opportunity being parents and public education.

Classroom Connections began in Toronto in 1997 as a local educational support organization. Initial efforts focused on the provision of teaching resources to Ontario schools, which were faced with massive cutbacks, curriculum overhaul and increased demands on teaching staff. In 1998, Classroom Connections was registered as a non-profit corporation. Since 1998, Classroom Connections has distributed more than15 support resources to elementary and secondary teachers and parents in school districts throughout Canada, representing over 75% of schools nation wide.

Current Operation:
Over the past 5 years of operation, Classroom Connections has developed a strong network of educators, researchers and experts across the country and has established a reputation for providing exceptional educational resources in identified subject areas. The demand from educators for new resources continues to be extensive. Classroom Connections is committed to continually providing high quality resource material for schools throughout Canada, as well as embarking on other projects, including the implementation of systems that allow for widespread sharing of information and resources.

3. Working Together to Support Public Education

The Canadian Centre for Quality Education and Opportunity has worked with Classroom Connections on several occasions over the past four years. Donations have been received by CCQEO from organizations wishing to sponsor a particular programme developed through Classroom Connections. The following Classroom Connection programmes have received support in this manner:

Literacy Connections UPS Canada donated $25,000.00 toward this project, a school workshop for parents and volunteer readers to teach participants how to read with children, from kindergarten through Grade 4.

Dog Bite Prevention Ralston Purina Canada donated $10,000.00 toward this project, designed to teach children in grades K-2 how to interact with dogs and avoid bites.

The Gift of Life Bell Canada donated $20,000.00 to this project, designed to increase the awareness and understanding about organ donation and transplantation programs in Canada for students in Grades 5-8.

At present, Classroom Connections is involved in an ongoing initiative entitled, Cultivating Peace. The programme involves the creation of resources for use in classrooms and communities across Canada. Cultivating Peace assists educators and community leaders to encourage youth to respect diversity, value human rights, have consideration for global issues, and respond to conflict using methods other than violence. The programme is a ten-year initiative aimed at the full development and distribution of peace education resources to schools across Canada. The first-level resource of Cultivating Peace currently exists as a teaching resource, including videotape, and has already been developed and distributed for use in Grades 10, 11 and 12 in high schools across Canada.

Through funding assistance provided by the Trillium Foundation, Classroom Connections is currently involved in the expansion of its Literacy Connections programme within Ontario, and plans to broaden distribution of the programme across Canada. Literacy Connections helps educators teach parents how to nurture literacy skills development at home. Additional funding will allow Classroom Connections to embark on the development of a series of programmes designed to providing parents with information and guidance that will help them maximize the early years of a child's life, and enable parents to work with educators and effectively support their child's learning.

The Canadian Centre for Quality Education and Opportunity is prepared to provide further assistance to Classroom Connections as it continues the Cultivating Peace initiative and other programmes that will enhance the delivery of quality, accessible education.

4. Board of Directors

Chair – Caroline Handelman, LLB, senior Counsel, Children's Aid Society of Toronto
President – Gail Anderson, Executive Director, Ontario Public School Boards' Association
Executive Director – Heather MacTaggart, Executive Director, Classroom Connections

Board Members

-Dr. Barrie Bennett, Associate Professor, Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
-Rhys Davies, Vice-President, Education & Health, 3COM Canada
-Shelly Laskin, Trustee, Toronto District School Board
-Katherine McFarlane, Executive Director, Curriculum Services Canada
-Barry O'Connor, Director of Education, Limestone District School Board
-Dr. John Wiens, Dean of Education, University of Winnipeg

Advisors to the Board

-Michael Hovey, Executive Director, Hague Appeal for Peace
-Charlie Coffey, Executive VP, Royal Bank of Canada