The 2011-2012 school year was a mix of good news and bad news for student achievement, according to numbers provided by assistant superintendent Sandy Jones.
Jones provided trustees with an update on the District Achievement Contract at the June 11 meeting, providing a snapshot of student performance across all grades and all schools. Jones started the presentation with some of the highlights of the last year before moving onto areas where challenges remain.
"The six-year graduation rate, which is from Grade 8 to graduation ... is not at the provincial average yet, but the gap has narrowed every year. We're 15 points below the provincial average, but that is narrowing," she said, noting that the percent of Grade 12 students that graduate is above the rest of B.C.
"The first time graduation rate in 2011-2012 was 72 per cent, so above the provincial average ... Aboriginal students who are eligible to graduate when they enter Grade 12 are also graduating at a higher rate than the rest of the province."
While graduation rates were up, there were a number of drops in student performance last year. The transition rate from one grade to the next in high school was down, the Aboriginal first-time graduation rate was down, the Grade 4 and Grade 7 Foundation Skills Assessment test scores were down and the Grade 10 provincial exam average was down. Jones said a lot of this has to do with what happened last year.
"We reorganized the district last year, so teachers weren't familiar with a lot of the students, and we had job action from the teachers," she explained.
With the upward trend in graduation rate, Jones told trustees now is the time to stay the course.
"We have a really good thing going here ... we have to stay focussed on the main thing, and the main thing is the students," she said.
"I am going to predict next year we will have really good results in the areas we had good results this year, but also in the areas we need to improve."