In this paper, we report on the policy and practice contexts for school autonomy and 21st Century learning in Canadian provinces. We focus on the province of Alberta, which appears to have the most developed policy context for school autonomy. Where appropriate, we speak to the wider Canadian context; however, we limit much of the discussion to the province of Alberta. Site-based decision-making (SBM) is known by a variety of names in Alberta, including: site-based decision-making, site-based budgeting, performance management. All of these variants have the following in common, at minimum: (a) a significant proportion of budget is transferred as a block to the school level, and (b) decisions regarding how to use this budget allocation to meet the needs of learners are made at the school level. Conceptually, decision-making in education systems can be classified as based in competing beliefs tending towards, what Garms, Guthrie, and Pierce (1978) described as: equity, efficiency, and liberty (i.e., choice). SBM tends to emphasize efficiency and liberty. Although each province has its own unique system of education, in Canada, education governance is shared among the provincial authorities and school boards, divisions, or districts (these administrative units are referred to by a variety of names – school divisions in Alberta and Saskatchewan, school boards in Ontario, and sometimes school districts as in British Columbia). In general, the purpose of school boards is to provide for local autonomy over education in each province. In this sense, autonomy is a complicated and multi-leveled phenomena with a measure of autonomy devolved from the state to local school jurisdictions, and yet other elements of autonomy devolved to the school. Additionally, in this paper we explore the interplay between SBM and 21st Century Learning policies. The Canadians for 21st Century Learning and Innovation (2012) identify policies and the public discourse related to 21st Century learning in almost all provinces and territories in Canada. The concept of 21st Century learning appears to be part of the educational discourse across the country with Alberta being identified as one of the most developed policy context for the implementation of 21st century learning. In Alberta, the system reform related to this has received much public attention. The policy framework developed primarily through the Inspiring Education document has received mixed reviews in Alberta and in the national public media.

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