One of the Aboriginal-Enhanced Access to Native Literacy project’s goals was to “identify the gaps, overlaps, and priorities in the development of Native literacy outreach, referral, and access services, assessment and delivery models, partnerships, and coordination of efforts and resources including the coordination of the five LBS services.” How well each program meets the above MTCU-specific responsibilities is documented and filed in each program’s records, and provides the best testimony to how well each program coordinator manages to address these various areas.

For this project, Native learners, literacy practitioners, host agencies, and Native community members were asked about their understanding of these five key components and to comment on the process or quality of application of these components.

Learner's Surveys

Learners were asked:

• to identify how they came to be aware of Native literacy programs;
• to speak generally about their experience of attending such a program;
• to name the literacy services they had used;
• to identify how they were able to support themselves financially while attending the program;
• to identify the various supports and hurdles to their participation in a program;
• to identify whether the program served their “whole person needs”;
• if there were enough trained staff and volunteers to help them; and
• to identify if the program seemed to function with enough funding to serve learners’ needs.

The questions sought to identify successful access channels as well as gaps in access provision. They were designed to determine the factors that contributed to the success of a learner's journey and to identify barriers to learning, so they could be more effectively addressed. Many questions attempted to gain insight into learners’ perceptions of how well Native literacy practitioners were delivering the LBS components. However, as service delivery begins to disintegrate at the follow-up component, learner’s transitions to other programs are directly affected. This is the stage where clearly established program accreditation and articulation agreements would best serve the interests of the learner as they expand or continue their learning journey. It is also the area that requires community-wide partnerships.

Practitioners' Surveys

Practitioners were asked:

• to identify how learners found out about literacy services;
• to identify how learners supported themselves while in a literacy program;
• to identify what supports or hurdles affected learner participation;
• whether literacy services served the “whole person” needs of the learner;
• seven questions identifying program funding needs and concerns;
• to identify what literacy services their learners have used in Toronto or those they are at least aware of;
• how they know about learners who have not accessed literacy services;
• how they tried to reach these learners;
• to identify whether there are enough workers and volunteers to help in the program; and
• to identify if the program functions with enough funding to serve learners’ needs.