Literacy Basics - Community Literacy of Ontario

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CIPMS

CIPMS: Key Messages

(Source: MTCU, Key Messages for CIPMS Training, August 2007)

CIPMS is about assuring the best quality service for our people and communities in a way that is continuously improving.

MTCU is among a large number of jurisdictions that have adopted a Continuous Improvement Performance Management System (CIPMS) to measure and manage performance of service delivery.

CIPMS consists of Performance Measurement, Performance Management and Continuous Improvement, using existing tools and building on good practices already in place in the literacy field.

CIPMS will allow agencies to monitor their own achievements while improving the LBS system as a whole.

Implementing a Performance Management system will help agencies build their capacity to work towards providing quality services according to their available resources.

One of CIPMS's benefits is that it provides us with a common language and the means to communicate results in a consistent manner to stakeholders outside of the literacy field.

LBS agencies will integrate the culture of continuous improvement in the day to day running of their LBS services. To do this, agencies will further build on their current continuous improvement practices.

The current training is part of the CIPMS process started in 2002. This is an ongoing process, following a continuum that takes time.

All streams have a role to play in the development of the CIPMS training and are working collaboratively on this initiative to maintain the coherence of the literacy sector while respecting its diversity.

Learner Skill Attainment

Learner Skill Attainment (LSA) was identified as one of the new measures of agency performance. It will track learners' progress towards identified goals on a consistent scale and in meaningful increments that relate to those goals.

Baseline LSA data was gathered through pilot projects between September 2007 and March 2008.

  1. A system for managing performance, based on the measures that support:

    • Agency assessment to actively assess progress towards results, evaluate and adjust business practices to improve organizational results, and continuously improve;
    • A framework for evaluation that outlines how agency performance is going to be measured by the Ministry and how decisions related to funding will be made; and
    • Benchmarking to the literacy systems of other jurisdictions to achieve improvements within LBS over time.

  2. A model of continuous improvement that:

    • integrates performance management into the daily operations of the LBS Program and delivery agencies in order to continuously seek improvements in the quality of services offered to learners; and
    • supports innovation in literacy practice.

Some literacy practitioners are already well on their way to implementing a fully functional CIPMS in their agency. Some are at the initial planning stage. Most of us are probably somewhere in the middle.

MTCU's Logic Model

The Ontario government has made a public commitment to work towards efficient and effective use of resources. A shift to results-based management was seen as the best way to accomplish this. MTCU developed a logic model showing how we all, i.e., grass roots agencies, networks and support organizations, and ministerial level staff, fit into overall literacy delivery. This logic model identifies objectives and desired outcomes so that we can measure progress and make decisions on the basis of the results we achieve.

At the program level, we are NOT expected to develop our own logic models. It is useful, however, to take a look at MTCU's model in terms of the “big picture” of CIPMS.

CLO gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES) and the technical support provided by the National Adult Literacy Database in developing this web site.

All external links within this website were valid at the time of publication.
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