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academic achievement. The four other criteria respectively look at how each alternative: (i)
lowers the cost of education; (ii) minimizes interracial cleavage; (iii) enables parental choice;
and (iv) minimizes administrative complexity. Appendix 1 reproduces the table summarizing the
author‘s assessment of the four strategies.
Richards note that while all four strategies rely on the supply side to improve quality,
only the first three policy alternatives enhance parental choice, which can potentially act as a
demand side check on quality. Yet, only the second, third and fourth options are within the range
of provincial school boards for possible reform options. Richards, rather than dogmatically
advocating one solution over another, proposes that school board combine all three options. In
practical terms, he suggests:
• The relaxation of neighbourhood school boundaries and payment of a financial bonus to
schools to encourage them to accept Aboriginal students who migrate from beyond the
relevant school catchment area.
• In large urban communities, the creation of one or more magnet schools concentrating on
Aboriginal cultural studies.
• The provision of generous enrichment programs for schools with large Aboriginal student
populations.
Richards contend that active experimentation is an efficient way of arriving to a satisfying
solution. He notes that Edmonton is doing just that, with the nondenominational public school
board pursuing a magnet school strategy and the Catholic school board adopting a school
enrichment strategy.
The question of on-reserve education is also central to any broad-based improvement in
Aboriginal educational attainment. Richards believes that better education is a definite
prerequisite if Aboriginal children are to have any real choice between living on and off-reserve.
Thus his contention that —Education from kindergarten to grade 12 is about more than
transmission of culture— it must also permit mastery of the basic academic skills and knowledge
necessary for participation in a technical industrial society” (Richards, 2006:122).
Richards notes that the federal government has not played an effective role in the matter,
with the Department of Indian Affairs failing to assess academic standards in on-reserve
schools. Yet, assessing standards and insisting for better performance are not the only
challenges. The question of Aboriginal authority is of paramount importance when addressing
the question of on-reserve education.
—Reconciling band control with higher school standards will not be easy.
Reform requires greater professionalism in school administration. That, in turn,
will almost certainly require individual bands to cede authority over schools to
larger organizations such as tribal councils or to new, province-wide Aboriginal
school boards, and that reserve schools integrate curricula and student testing more
closely with the relevant province.”