NWT - High school graduates across the NWT are finding out their diplomas won't get them anywhere.

Aurora College president Sarah Wright Cardinal: students who are taking upgrading courses are doing so because they didn't know exactly what career they wanted - NNSL file photo

Nineteen-year-old Kyle Yakeleya, a recent graduate of Tulita's Chief Albert Wright School, had hopes of going on to post-secondary school down south. His hopes were quickly dashed when a college assessment test showed his math skills were well below the Grade 12 level. His school had not offered a Grade 12 math course.

Raymond Yakeleya, Kyle's uncle, says the GNWT should be doing more to ensure students are properly equipped for post-secondary school by the time they finish high school.

"What's a kid supposed to do with a piece of paper that ain't worth nothing? No credible institution will take you on with a Northwest Territories Grade 12. I mean, Mickey Mouse might as well have given them to everybody for all the good it does," Yakeleya said from Edmonton, where his nephew is currently taking courses to upgrade his skills.

Not every student who needs upgrading to get into college has enough money to take the required courses, Yakeleya said, and the government should provide funding for upgrading to students who want to advance their education.

"It's not their fault that they graduated from this system that the government has put in front of them," he said. "I've talked to other parents and they say it's just numbers. The government of the Northwest Territories wants to say we've got 15 or X graduates from Tulita."

According to an Aurora College employee who asked not to be named, an increasing number of NWT high school grads have only Grade 6 to Grade 9 reading and math skills.

"We're running into this problem more and more every year. It's increasing." Most high school grads' skills are below the Grade 12 level, the employee said.

"They can't handle college courses. They're not prepared. And I don't blame the students."

The NWT's "social promotion" policy, in effect in the territory since 1998, is part of the problem, the employee said.

"You're doing the students a disservice. In fact, what you're doing is making the really good students suffer because you're bringing everything down to a lower level to teach just one or two students in the class."

"What we're realizing more and more is that we've got to start teaching high school courses here – doing the job that these schools have failed to do."

The situation could make Yakeleya's nephew's predicament more common.

In effort to bring the problem to light Yakeleya e-mailed a letter outlining his concerns to Seamus Quigg, superintendent of the Sahtu Divisional Education Council.

Seamus Quigg, speaking to News/North last week, said he had not received the letter. He said students who are aiming to go to university must take the highest-level academic courses in high school, out of three possible course levels in each grade.

"The general run of the mill diploma, depending on what program you want to get into, will not necessarily get you into university," he said. "Universities do not look at the diploma, per se, they look at the courses – which courses you took. So not to put too fine a point on it, there's high school diplomas and there's high school diplomas. They're not all the same creature." Quigg said low student attendance and high staff turnover rates are two of the main factors contributing to low student achievement in Sahtu schools. He said he doesn't see the NWT's "social promotion" policy, which allows elementary students who are learning at a lower level to move on to the next grade with their peers so as not to damage their self-esteem, as part of the problem.

"My own viewpoint is not really important on the issue because since I work for the school board, I implement their policies and the school board takes its direction in that regard from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment in Yellowknife, which has a policy of inclusive schooling," Quigg said. "That's not to say we never retain kids. Probably there's the possibility of retaining a kid maybe once in his K to 9 career. Grade 10, 11 and 12 it's not an issue at all because in high school it doesn’t matter which grade you're in really – it's the number of credits you're working on."

No more than two or three students are held back per year at any given school in the Sahtu, he said.

When students require upgrading, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment suggests that those students return to their local high school to re-take courses.

"If they don't have the prerequisite courses that are needed, then what we would recommend is that they consider returning back to their high school in their home community, at no cost," said Rita Mueller, director of Early Childhood and K-12 School Services for the department. "They could be supported and live in their family environment."

That option is not always available for students who need to take courses that aren't offered at their high school.

Aurora College president Sarah Wright Cardinal said students who are taking upgrading courses are doing so because they didn't know exactly what career they wanted to pursue when they were still in high school.

"We're finding that trend that there are a lot more people who are not looking for what we used to call upgrading. There still is a need for that lower level literacy and numeracy, but a lot of people who are that younger age group that would be coming out of high school and in their 20s are looking for the higher level, the more sophisticated high school courses that are sometimes not offered in smaller communities," she said.

Another reason people are taking upgrading courses at the college, Wright Cardinal said, is because distance-learning and online programs are still new in the territory and many students feel more comfortable in a classroom setting.

"It's not feasible to have a high-level math instructor, a high-level science instructor, a higher level English instructor, et cetera, in a small community so what we're moving toward, which is very common in other parts of Canada, is a facilitator in the community," she said. "Somebody who can support students with the skills they need in order to do a lot of self-study, online study, time management and study skills."

Wright Cardinal added that she has recently joined the GNWT's Aboriginal Student Achievement committee, which aims to bridge the gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal education levels, and is touring small communities across the territory to assess adult education needs.