Education Statistics Program - September 2010

Consultation objectives

This survey was designed by Statistics Canada to assess the quality of the Education Statistics Program delivered by the Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics Division and to obtain a better understanding of program users’ needs and priorities.

Consultation methodology

In 2010, Statistics Canada invited 1,700 clients of the Centre for Education Statistics to participate in a client satisfaction survey. Of the 224 respondents, 41% came from the education sector and 17% were from provincial/territorial organizations.

How to get involved

This consultation is now closed.

Individuals who wish to obtain more information or to take part in a consultation should contact Statistics Canada through the Statistical Information Service.

Please note that Statistics Canada selects participants for each consultation to ensure feedback from a representative sample of the target population for the study. Not all applicants are asked to participate in a given consultation.

Results

Overall, client satisfaction was positive with respect to education statistics, and with its statistical products in particular. With respect to client services, the program elements with the high satisfaction scores were: knowledge and skills of staff, timeliness of initial response, accessibility of staff, service in the language of their choice, clarity of communications and overall satisfaction.

Only three elements received a rating of neither satisfied nor unsatisfied: ability to answer questions, advice on selecting and using the data, and time necessary for the delivery of a product or service.

Recommendations

The key recommendations were:

• Improve the timeliness of the products and services published by the Centre for Education Statistics
• Reduce prices or eliminate charges for those products
• Improve access to the website and data

Timeliness

Recently, the Centre for Education Statistics Division has made tremendous efforts to reduce the survey cycle for the Elementary-Secondary Education Survey. The elimination of a preliminary release saved time and increased the timeliness of the survey. For the Postsecondary Student Information System, efforts have focused on filling the data gap on colleges and on releasing college results at the same time as university results, thereby increasing the timeliness of survey results.

Product pricing

The Division has increased the number of free tables and publications and reduced the price of public use microdata files to less than $100.

Website and data access

In recent years, the Division improved its portal through Education Matters and increased access to pan-Canadian education indicators by making the website more user friendly. Some survey recommendations have been implemented.

Statistics Canada thanks participants for their participation in this consultation. Their insights guide the Agency’s web development and ensure that the final products meet users’ expectations.