Mission and Origins

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Who We Are

Ontario Association of School Districts International (OASDI) is a non-profit association comprised of publicly-funded schools in Ontario, Canada that have established international student programs.

Mission

OASDI is committed to advocacy and promotion of international education programs in Ontario public schools.

Areas of Focus

  1. Quality standards/standards of practice
  2. Information exchange/networking/capacity building
  3. Advocacy...the voice of Ontario Secondary & Elementary JK-12 International education
  4. International marketing... a provincial brand/face

Origin

In 2008, Ontario school boards involved in international education, K-12, were invite by colleagues, to participate in exploratory meetings to consider the opportunities for collaboration and cooperation between interested stakeholders. The invitation was extended to school boards across Ontario either through direct contact, if a school board’s international education department was known, or through the director’s office. This meeting of Ontario stakeholders was a logical response to the leadership and effective associations already well-established in other provinces, most notably, BC, Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia, and at a national level, through Canadian Association of Public Schools – International (CAPS-I).

In 2009, participating school boards met regularly and collaborated on three significant projects:

  1. A quality video production, in seven languages, promoting Ontario education brand awareness and the full range of English language educational opportunities for international students, JK-12.
  2. A familiarization trip to China which included a number of school board partners.
  3. The establishment of consistent standards of practice related to international visa students hosted in Ontario schools

In response to the demonstrated value of this cooperation, the Ontario Association of School Districts International (OASDI), a not-for- profit association, was established with 16 founding Ontario publically- funded school boards. The OASDI mission, policies and infrastructure align with, and have the benefit of the experience of our colleagues in other provinces and at a national level. Individual Ontario school board International Education programs - scale and scope – as well as administrative, staffing and funding models are wide-ranging and unique to each participating school board.