BY Dale Bass
Kamloops This Week
While School District 73 has seen graduation-completion rates increase through the years, none of the categories has seen the growth experienced with special-needs students.
In the 2010 school year, that completion rate was 46.6 per cent; at the end of the 2014 school year, it had grown to 71.7 per cent.
As it increased, the rate went from being below the provincial average — 52.7 per cent in 2010 — to well above the 65.9 per cent registered across B.C. in 2014.
A report on the six-year completion rates is headed to the Kamloops-Thompson board of education at its meeting on Monday, Dec. 12. It reviews the five school years that end in 2014-2015.
The statistics are based on Ministry of Education information and don’t factor in students who have moved out of the district, who are visiting international exchange or Kamloops Blazers students or who have died.
The report will show the rate for all students district-wide continues to be below the provincial average, but the percentage of aboriginal students completing school remains well above the provincial marker.
For all students, with provincial percentages in brackets, the report shows: 2010, 75.9 (81); 2011, 77.8 (81.8); 2012, 78.4 (83.6); 2013 (82.8 (84.2); and 2014, 82 (83.9).
For aboriginal students, the comparison shows: 2010, 64.4 (53.7); 2011, 69 (56.4); 2012, 66.7 (59.4); 2013, 68.7 (61.6); and 2014, 73 (63).
Looking at its own review of completion success for the 2014-2015 school year, however, SD73 shows of all students, 90 per cent completed with either a Dogwood diploma or a completion certificate. For aboriginal students, the rate was 85 per cent.
