A declining high school completion rate and a decrease in the dropout rate among students aged 14 to 18 were among the highlights of Pembina Hills’ Annual Education Results Report (AERR) for 2013-2014.
Pembina Hills trustees passed a motion during their Nov. 26 meeting at Fort Assiniboine School approving the AERR.
Mark Thiesen, assistant Supt. of student services, said the completion of the AERR is also the completion of their annual education planning cycle, the latest iteration of which began in fall of 2013.
The AERR must be submitted to Alberta Education by Nov. 30, said Thiesen, noting this is the only date for the year where the province asks for a final report on their education plan.
“As soon as it’s away, I start the new (education planning process,” he indicated.
The AERR is a combined document containing both the three-year education plan and the education results report and contains info on the history and current make-up of Pembina Hills and a list of the division’s foundation statements and goals for 2014-2015: an excellent start to learning, success for every student, quality teaching and school leadership, and engaged and effective governance.
The report also contains a host of statistics relating to the division’s educational achievements and more mundane matters, such as the number of volunteers who helped in Pembina Hills classrooms last year (1,055) and the total amount of bus travel completed by PHRD drivers (2.025 million kilometres).
One item trustees took note of is a decline in the division’s high school completion rate from 76 per cent in May 2012 to 71.8 per cent in May of 2014.
Thiesen said the division had a really good year in 2012 but obviously “something has changed,” noting the division is investigating the issue.
He said the cause could be anything from a cultural change to an overall change in principals; however, the division’s actual high school completion program hasn’t changed that much.
Thiesen noted completion data generally tends to be a couple years delayed, so the statistic for the current year is more reflective of June of 2013.
The report notes that high school completion rates among self-identified FNMI (First Nations, Metis and Inuit) students is of concern, though the percentage of FNMI students achieving an acceptable standard is still good and the drop-out rate has fallen.
Notably, the division also saw a decrease in the dropout rate amongst teens aged 14 to 18. The dropout rate had climbed from 5.4 per cent in May 2012 to 6.8 per cent in May 2013 before falling again to 4.8 per cent in May 2014.
Thiesen said the major reason for this change was that Vista Virtual School had done some “significant work” around reducing their dropout rate.
At the same time, student achievement on diploma examinations has climbed from 78.5 per cent in 2012 to 85.3 per cent this year. There has also been a slight increase on student achievement in Provincial Achievement Tests (PATs).
Overall, Pembina Hills improved or significantly improved on all provincially defined measures. A total of 25.5 per cent of students in Grades 7-12 were on the honour roll.
Teacher, parent and student satisfaction with the quality of basic education is at 89.6 per cent as of May 2014 — about on par with previous years — and satisfaction with the opportunities for students to receive a broad program of studies sits at 77.8 per cent.
There was an overall improvement in satisfaction with instruction and overall quality of education, the report stated.
The AERR also contains links to the division’s 2013-2014 audited financial statements and a summary of facility and capital plans for Pembina Hills.
Thiesen said the AERR also has an “optional” section entitled Challenges for the Future where it lays out possible challenges for the future.
Among these is establishing an online parent payments’ option for board and school fees, the modernization of Pembina North Community School and the significant backlog in IMR (Infrastructure, Maintenance and Renewal) projects.
The full report is available online at www.phrd.ab.ca.
