Grad rates across Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools dropped slightly, however a few key groups saw big increases. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

GRAD RATES

SD68 grad rate dips due to student vulnerability, pandemic ripple effects

Jan 28, 2021 | 12:15 PM

NANAIMO — Lingering impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic was identified as a chief contributor to district grad rates bucking recent trends.

Graduation rates for all students enrolled in SD68 in 2020 dropped marginally to 75 per cent. Major gains were made with English learning (up 8.3 per cent) and special needs students (up 5.1 per cent) while Indigenous student graduation dipped for the first time since 2017 (to 67.8 per cent)

Scott Saywell, SD68 superintendent, identified particularly high student vulnerability in some areas of Nanaimo as a factor in changing grad rates.

Vulnerability looks at factors such as physical health and wellbeing, social confidence and cognitive development as potential barriers to a successful school career.

“Children from poor backgrounds face many obstacles to accessing education. These include…not having access to educational materials or teachers at some point but even when these are in place, children living in poverty often don’t have their basic needs met.”

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Vulnerability rates according to UBC data, used to identify areas of concern across school districts. Darker colours indicate more vulnerable areas. (SD68)

To better manage students from highly vulnerable areas, the district routinely communicates with teachers to identify students who may or may not be on a path to graduation.

“We know students that are going to struggle right from the first day in kindergarten. They’re children who are new to our country, they’re children from low socioeconomic situations and they’re Indigenous children, not all of them but a lot of them.”

The affects of the COVID-19 pandemic on students long-term is still unknown.

Students were directed to online learning after an extended spring break in March 2020 before a majority returned to in-class learning in September.

Ted Cadwallader, SD68 director of instruction for Indigenous learning, said early indications suggest many graduates from last year are not immediately moving on to higher levels of education after after their experience with online learning in grade 12.

“It’s been really difficult because our post secondaries are operating in an online environment as well. It’s been gruelling. Some of them have decided not to go to university this year because it was just so hard to be online for that amount of time.”

Superintendent Saywell said the raw grad rate data doesn’t tell the entire story.

“We are trending in the right direction, that’s what we concentrate on. We’re improving every single year.”

In all sub-categories measured by the district, graduation rates have climbed over the last five years. Only 56 per cent of Indigenous students completed grade 12 in 2016 while the overall grad rate climbed around three per cent over the same time.

A full breakdown of SD68 grad rates is available here.

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alex.rawnsley@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NanaimoNewsNOW