Information Integration Unit

The Ministry of Education’s need for new information is growing constantly. With a strong focus on accountability for results, new funding or policy changes need to be assessed to ensure they are making a difference to students and the system.

The Information Integration Unit works with all ministry departments to develop new ways to exchange data, capitalizing on shared systems like BCeSIS. It also plans new information management systems; the goal is to improve responsiveness to change, increase the frequency of data exchanges, and improve data quality at the source.

For examples, in the Class Size exchange, data is extracted directly from BCeSIS or local systems and preloaded into a Web form for review and approval. Quality is improved by taking data directly from everyday systems, and the time to complete the exchange is reduced from a month or two to just a few days.

Reducing the time and effort taken to fill out, edit, review, submit, correct and approve data collection forms improves the ability of both the ministry and the school system to focus on using the data to improve student learning.