P.A. boasts strong graduation rates

The numbers are in and both Prince Albert school divisions posted positive trends in their graduation rates last year.

The Prince Albert Catholic School Division’s on-time graduation rate continued its move upwards to 74 per cent overall. 

“Every graduation story is a story of persistence,” Lorel Trumier, the division’s director of education said. “Which means it is a stepping stone to be productive citizens in society.”

The divisions break their data down by Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. On-time non-Indigenous students graduated with a rate of 94 per cent, up three-per cent over last year. The on-time graduation rate for Indigenous students stunts also saw a slight uptick to 53 per cent over 52 in 2015-16.

“The secret really is the fact that we are working with our students to understand what is it that they need and what they require support in,” Trumier said as to how they have achieved their goals. 

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Part of the growth she also attributed to strengthening communication with staff and parents to gain insight on how they can move forward.

Speaking on Indigenous matters, Trumier said special attention is given here to find what supports can be offered to ensure no one falls through the cracks and to reduce the disparity between non-Indigenous and Indigenous students.

“We are trying to hear the stories of our children and our families when they come to our schools,” she said. “We are trying to understand what has made them successful and work with their families to get better at it.”

Lending a hand in the growing graduation rates includes students in the extended-time programs, defined as five years of school starting in Grade 10. This program saw an overall graduation rate of 88 per cent.

For this program, non-Indigenous students graduated at 98 per cent, up two per cent over last. Indigenous students had a graduation rate of 78, an increase of six per cent over 15-16.

“We are much more successful if we have a little it more time,” Trumier said. “We learn and gather feedback and apply that and try to get better every day.”

Saskatchewan Rivers sees good grad growth

Sask. Rivers Public School Division calls the increase in their Indigenous student graduation rate ‘exciting.’ Director of  Education Robert Bratvold said they’re up to 52.5 per cent.

“We have increased by five per cent and that’s exciting growth,” he said. “However I should temper that by saying we’re not nearly as high as we’d like to be. There is still work to be done but this is the greatest increase we’ve seen in some years.”

Bratvold attributed the increase mainly to the kids themselves.

“The students have done the work, they’re coming to class engaged and wanting to learn,” he said. ” We give them the credit and their families for being supportive.”

Bratvold also credits teaching staff for making the classrooms challenging, engaging and rigourous and also a greater attention community-wide on the importance of attendance and engagement.

Regarding non-Indigenous students, the graduation rate is also up, to 89.3 per cent, which Bratvold said represents an increase of around 1.5 per cent. He says students are engaged and teachers are showing excellence in their planning.

Provincially, the 2016-17 graduation rate increased from 75.6 per cent to 76.5 per cent, the highest in 20 years. Indigenous graduation rates, though still lagging well behind their non-Indigenous counterparts, also increased to 43.2 per cent, up from 41.9.

The extended-time graduation rate is 84 per cent overall, and 59.8 per cent for Indigenous students. The province has a goal to increase the graduation rate to 85 per cent by 2020.

–With files from Glenn Hicks
 

Tyler.Marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow