Gradually making graduation gains
Education department overhauls the learning experience
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 1, 2014
NUNAVUT
At first glance, new by jurisdiction Statistics Canada numbers for graduation rates released last week might paint a grim picture for Nunavut but, as assistant deputy minister John MacDonald said, five years does not demonstrate a trend.
"It's the long-term trend that counts," he said. "You're looking at a small population and fluctuations that are normal in that. We expect annual fluctuation."
The five-year StatsCan numbers show fluctuations between numbers of graduates to 2013 from 2009: 216, 240, 229, 237 and 244. The Government of Nunavut, who provides the numbers to Ottawa, announced at the last legislative assembly that 206 students graduated in 2014.
Nunavut currently hovers at a 35 per cent graduation rate, while the Canadian rate hovers around 80 per cent.
"It's not as if we're unaware that's low," said MacDonald.
However, looking back almost 20 years to 1996, the graduation rate sat at 13 per cent. There is a demonstrated increase to 35 per cent.
MacDonald pointed to several factors influencing the territory's graduation rate, including literacy, attendance and parental involvement, all of which are on the department's radar.
"If we can't get literacy right, then that's going to be a big problem," he said. "Literacy skills allow students to engage with the material."
The department is set to roll out a "huge literacy initiative."
"We understand that students that are literate at an early age are much more likely to remain in school and graduate. As a result, we are in the process of re-tooling how we require our students to be taught how to read and write."
Eventually, the initiative will encompass both English and Inuktitut. Currently the department has the English resources, including student books, teacher resources, and other materials and it is now conducting training on the use of these materials with elementary school teachers.
"The Inuktitut materials are more time consuming to develop as there were not ready-made books and resources for us to purchase, so we were forced to work with partners to develop these," said MacDonald.
"This is a huge initiative and is something that will form the basis for Nunavut's literacy in our official languages for the future. We are committed to getting this right and making sure that the necessary high-quality resources are available for teachers and students to use in the classroom as well as to ensure that our staff are supported in process."
Another area the department is focusing on is tracking students, to figure out when students are lost from the stream.
"We know students are peeling off at a certain place."
In fact, Stats Can released a report earlier in the year and one aspect examined is the cohort - students remaining and progressing with their age group.
"Among the provinces and territories, the proportion of students who completed their education within the expected time varied considerably, from 16 per cent in Nunavut to 82 per cent in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick," the report states
"We have long known, and any teacher in Nunavut will tell you, that students are leaving the system when they transition from middle school to secondary school," said MacDonald.
A few factors are to blame, such as lack of student support, the practice of social promotion and low rates of attendance. The department is exploring solutions.
"We will be surveying students directly to gain a better quantitative and qualitative understanding of what causes them to leave school. We have new survey instruments that we will be piloting within the next few months and which we hope will enable us to tailor school programming and other initiatives to respond to those causes."
Other initiatives include developing courses that will shepherd student to success in mandatory courses and an external review of the student support system.
"We expect that to be complete early in the new calendar year. Once released, we intend to act on those findings to improve how we provide supports to students at all ages."
The hope, with all these initiatives combined, is that the Nunavut graduation rate will continue to climb.
