Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district students, including Indigenous students and students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, are scoring high when it comes to completing high school.
School district administration discussed 2023-24 graduation rates at a strategic directions committee meeting Jan. 15, and reported that First Nations students and students with developmental disabilities scored all-time high grad rates at 86 and 78 per cent, respectively. In addition, 77.4 per cent of students in care – under B.C. government guardianship – graduated, as did 90 per cent of students in the district overall, also a record high.
Grad rates for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities have risen the past five years with 62 per cent receiving a diploma in 2019-20, 64 per cent in 2020-21, 72 per cent in 2021-22 and 76 per cent in 2022-23, according to numbers from the B.C. Ministry of Education and Child Care.
Jo Cornthwaite, Nanaimo and district teachers' union president, was pleased with the results, suggesting that school district investment in inclusion support teachers has been beneficial. In terms of helping those students reach "the graduation finish line," Cornthwaite – herself an inclusion support teacher – said adaptations to program delivery and output are needed.
Students may need more time in order to complete work, and perhaps a reduction in terms of the amount of work they're asked to complete, but still demonstrate learning outcomes of the course, she said.
"It's a lot of work on the part of inclusion support teachers to ensure that those programs are adequately adapted for student need and [ensure] they are able to sufficiently demonstrate their understanding of material to be able to graduate, said Cornthwaite.
As far as Indigenous student grad rates, the district's previous high was 80.3 per cent in 2020-21. The local Indigenous language, Hul'q'umi'num', is part of the curriculum, which is also of benefit, according to Cornthwaite.
"I think when students can see themselves represented in the things that they're learning in school, they are more engaged in the work that they're doing. And students, from what I've heard from examples on the ground, they are appreciating the fact that they have those connections to culture in terms of their language," she said.
Coun. Bill Yoachim of the Snuneymuxw First Nation thanked the school district for its "great work" on Indigenous grad rates.
"Superintendent Robyn Gray has inherited a strong bench mark and Snuneymuxw has the utmost confidence these numbers will remain or climb under her leadership," he said in a text message to the News Bulletin.
Provincially, the overall graduation rate was 91 per cent last school year, including 75 per cent for Indigenous students and 78 per cent for students with learning or developmental disabilities. Laura Tait, assistant superintendent of learning culture and innovation, told the committee the district is trending up, pointing to the rate for local students in care, which eclipses the provincial average (55.9 per cent) by more than 20 per cent.
"There's still lots of areas that we're going to needle into and give far more care and attention, but having this data in front of us helps us do that, and having a bit of good news, I think, at this time, is also really valuable," she said.
The grad rates are based on students who receive diplomas within six years of beginning Grade 8. Numbers were part of the enhancing student learning report the district is required to submit to the B.C. Ministry of Education and Child Care.