A push to improve student achievement seems to be paying off, St. Paul Education Regional Division Supt. Glen Brodziak told the school board at its Jan. 13 meeting, pointing to a report that shows diploma marks are on an upswing.
A push to improve student achievement seems to be paying off, St. Paul Education Regional Division Supt. Glen Brodziak told the school board at its Jan. 13 meeting, pointing to a report that shows diploma marks are on an upswing.
“Overall, our Grade 12s are doing as good or better than anyone else in this area of the province,&” he said, adding that for comparison purposes, one would have to go to Sherwood Park to find schools that were performing at a similar standard, according to data compiled by the Edmonton-based Eight Leaves Inc.
Eight Leaves Inc. ranked Alberta high schools on their overall averages on core academic diploma exams, including English 30-1, Social Studies 30-1, Math 30-1, and the 30 level Chemistry, Biology and Physics courses, and showed comparisons from past academic years.
Brodziak said when hearing of school rankings, people often think of the Fraser Institute's reports, but that this was a study that looked at one measure only, that of diploma exam marks taken by Grade 12 students.
“We verified their data and their data was correct,&” he said, adding he was “pretty proud&” of the results and the general trend of improving marks over the least few years, especially since before 2010, St. Paul Education had low achievement rates, and had been among the bottom five of 62 divisions in the province, while it is now sitting at the middle or above the middle of divisions.
“Credit goes to our students, credit goes to our staff, credit goes to our parents,&” he told trustees. “We pushed hard and everybody responded.&”
Board chair Heather Starosielski added that the board had listed achievement and establishing quality relationships as its two main goals, adding of the achievement piece, “It is working. It's phenomenal.&”
Of the 400 ranked schools in the provinces, St. Paul Regional High School came in at 26, improving 32 places, and was the highest ranked out of all northern Alberta schools outside of Edmonton. Out of 199 written exams, the diploma mark average was 72.8 per cent.
Like Brodziak, St. Paul Regional High School principal Mark Tichkowsky attributed the results to joint efforts.
“Our results would be based on, number one, teachers going above and beyond, number two, students striving for excellence, and number three, parent support,&” he said. “We've had a strong group of students over the past few years and we're hoping this continues in the same direction for the next few years here.&”
F.G. Miller also improved, ranking at 55, an improvement of 27 places. The average diploma score for F.G. Miller was 69.9 per cent, out of 84 exams written.
Ecole Mallaig School had the biggest improvement of local schools from 2014 to 2015, with a 13 per cent increase, moving up 193 places to rank at 105. Out of 51 exams written, the average diploma score was 67.3 per cent.
Mallaig Principal Tom Whitfield cautioned over how much stock to put into the data, saying it was one measure and that educators “take it with a pinch of salt.&”
“Things fluctuate over time,&” he noted. However, he added, “We're blessed with great staff and students, and the support of our community. If that data is showing rapid growth, I think that belongs to all of us out here.&”
Other schools did see drops in improvement, including New Myrnam School which dropped 253 places, to 382nd rank; however, only 18 exams were written, for an average of 50.2 per cent.
Brodziak noted that while it was important to look at trends over a number of years, this is particularly true of small schools like New Myrnam, where the numbers are more prone to fluctuation because of a small sample size.
Ashmont Secondary School's rank dropped 10 places to 389th. Out of 51 exams written, the diploma average was 46.3 per cent.
Ecole du Sommet, which is part of the East Central Francophone Education Region No. 3 division, dropped 111 places to 307th rank. However, again, the sample size was small; with 12 exams written, the average diploma score was 59.1 per cent.
Glendon School, which is in the Northern Lights School Division, dropped 188 places in rank to 373. Out of 46 exams written, the average diploma mark was 51.6 per cent.
