Issue link: https://takingitglobal.uberflip.com/i/1542824
R. Adeboye, C. Flewelling,V. Ogbole, E. O'Sullivan 81 Recommendations As all available evidence indicates that the program is performing well at its current scale, recommendations focus on potential vulnerabilities if it continues the pattern of rapid expansion it has seen over the last ten years. 1. Continue to enhance monitoring of classroom technology and its influence on program delivery. Although the evaluation generally found that Connected North staff, Content Providers, and teachers were able to work together to manage technological challenges; it was also clear that this could be increasingly challenging as the program grows with users employing an expanding range of unfamiliar systems. As importantly, even though participants generally made the best of whatever technology they had, it was clear that the quality and sophistication of those systems affects how students experience sessions; and potentially their effectiveness. 2. Deepen understanding of teacher experiences, ensuring they have the support needed to make the most of Connected North. Although this evaluation did look at teachers, the critical role they play in program effectiveness was something of an emergent theme, with it ultimately becoming clear that the evaluation had not collected extensive enough data to assess whether teachers have what they need to optimize their use of Connected North. Some steps could potentially be taken immediately, such as enhancing the teacher portal with more guidance and best practices; and implementing some of the peer-to-peer learning suggested by participants. Over the longer term, however, as Connected North expands and places greater demands on its full-service delivery model, having a comprehensive understanding of teachers' experiences needs will support ongoing success. 3. In collaboration with Indigenous partners, define and evaluate other long-term program outcomes. This evaluation focused on graduation rates as the targeted long-term outcome. While graduation rates are important, as highlighted, for example, in Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action #7 41 and #10 42 , this metric has also been described as being rooted in western culture, with calls to replace it with more holistic, Indigenous-defined measures (Canadian Council on Learning 2007). Such holistic models have since been put into practice, for example, in the design of the First Nations Regional Early Childhood, Education, and Employment Survey (First Nations Information Governance Centre 2016). The Program Theory developed for this evaluation does contain other long-term outcomes, including the development of community-relevant skills and increased well-being. These could potentially be explored and evaluated with Connected North's Indigenous partners as a means of both building on their existing well-being framework, and balancing this evaluation's focus on conventional western measures of educational success. 41 "7. We call upon the federal government to develop with Aboriginal groups a joint strategy to eliminate educational and employment gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians" (2015, p.195). 42 "10. We call on the federal government to draft new Aboriginal education legislation with the full participation and informed consent of Aboriginal peoples. The new legislation would include a commitment to sufficient funding and would incorporate the following principles: i. Providing sufficient funding to close identified educational achievement gaps within one generation…" (2015, p. 197).