Efforts towards improving the number of students graduating high school in Living Sky School Division are seeing positive results.
At the Living Sky School Division board meeting Oct. 23 in North Battleford, administration officials shared some numbers about graduation rates in the division. For students completing Grade 12 within three years of starting Grade 10, the number for 2018-19 was 80 per cent, which is better than the provincial numbers by three per cent.
Of those, 91 per cent of the grads were non-First Nations and 47 per cent were First Nations, both better than the provincial numbers by four per cent.
The numbers compared favorably to 2008-09 when the three-year grad rate was 78 per cent, with 87 per cent non-First Nation and 34 per cent First Nations graduating within three years.
Numbers were also provided for extended-time grad rates for the division for students completing Grade 12 within five years of starting grade 10. Those overall numbers for the division had gone up from 80 per cent in 2009 to 88 per cent in 2019. Among non-First Nations students, the grad rate was up for the same period from 88 to 96 per cent, and among First Nations students it was a dramatic increase from 31 percent to 63 per cent.
In 2008-09, the number of extended-time First Nations grads from Living Sky were 16 percentage points below the provincial average. In 2019, it was two per cent ahead. The overall extended-time grad numbers for 2019 also were ahead of the provincial average by three percentage points.
For school division officials the numbers were a sign that efforts to increase graduation rates, and particularly to reduce the disparity in graduation rates between First Nations and non-First Nations students, were working.
“It’s in the right direction, but, again, we don’t want to say that’s good enough,” said Tonya Lehman, superintendant of learning with Living Sky.
“I think that we’ve put some programs in place. I know at the Comprehensive High School, our ISSI program – Invitational Shared Service – with our grad coach has made a significant difference in the lives of our students, and we’re excited about that.”
The grad coach at the North Battleford Comprehensive High School is designated to help First Nations. Mentors and role models are brought in, and elders come in as well.
Also cited were the efforts towards a diverse workforce within the division. According to the latest human resource numbers, there are 804 employees within Living Sky School Division, with nine per cent self-identifying as First Nation or Métis.
The number of self-identify First Nations staff is up from eight percent last year, and according to Jim Shevchuk, superintendent of human resources for the school division, they hope to get that number to 10 per cent next year. Shevchuk adds the school division has some strategies to try and recruit more First Nations employees to the school division next year.
“When students see teachers, adults, that look like them, I think they get really engaged and excited about their learning and the connections are that much stronger,” said Shevchuk.
