WHILE the provincial high school graduation rate ticked slightly upward this year, locally, graduation rates appear to have stalled – or in the case of the number of aboriginal graduates, dropped to the lowest level in five years.
In the Coast Mountains School District (CMSD) the overall graduation rate – referred to by the Ministry of Education as the six-year completion rate (the percentage of students who graduate high school with a Dogwood diploma within six years of entering Grade 8) – for 2012/2013 is 67.5 per cent, according to documents released by the province Nov. 20.
That’s down 1.2 per cent from last year’s 68.7 per cent and down from this year’s provincial graduation rate of 83.6 per cent.
And the aboriginal graduation rate – which graduated the highest percentage of students in five years in 2011/2012 with a rate of 50.1 per cent – saw that number drop to the lowest it’s been in five years, with a rate of 42.1 per cent for 2012/2013.
But provincially, the aboriginal graduation rate has been climbing steadily over the last five years, hitting 59.4 per cent in 2012/2013.
“The aboriginal student completion rate has steadily improved over the past 10 years, rising from 45.9 per cent in 2002-03 (up 13.5 percentage points or 29.4 per cent increase),” reads a release from the ministry of education Nov. 20.
The female graduation rate in the CMSD for 2012/2013 is 69.7 per cent, down slightly from last year’s 71 per cent, and up slightly from 2008/2009’s 67 per cent.
The male graduating rate for 2013/2014 is 65.3 per cent, also down slightly from last year’s 66.6 per cent, and up slightly from 2008/2009’s 63.1 per cent.
This June district officials set a goal of increasing secondary school completion rates for this school year.
They expect to do this by increasing attendance and decreasing suspensions and school withdrawals, and by introducing alternate programs in the Hazeltons where attendance rates are generally poor for secondary school students.
Also being worked on with the education ministry is a specific agreement to, in the words of the ministry, “support a partnership between aboriginal communities and school districts that involves shared decision-making and specific goal-setting to meet the educational needs of aboriginal students.”
These Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreements have been signed by 53 school districts across the province so far but three – CMSD, Nisga’a and Prince George districts – are still in the planning stages.
