Despite several pandemic interruptions to in-class learning over the previous three years, graduation rates for the Avon Maitland District School Board have never been higher.
A total of 86.3% of the 2017 class of students earned their diploma within five years, which was a new benchmark for the school board.
Another 80.2% of their 2018 class graduated in four years last spring.
That marked just the second time ever they cracked the 80% barrier for four year graduates, with the other instance coming the year prior.
The four-year grad rate jumped substantially after the COVID pandemic initially hit, when the provincial government ruled that grades could not decline from where they were in March after in-person learning halted.
Jane Morris, Superintendent of Education, says now that they’re a few years out, it’s no longer an outlier.
“We were just a little bit nervous when we saw that to make any sort of inference that any of the strategies we had put in place were having an impact, because there was a significant change in what that year looked like,” she said. “But since then we’ve sort of held, so we’re now able to say with some confidence that the strategies we’ve put in place are making a difference.”
Those strategies included bringing in graduation coaches to all eight secondary schools, to help students fill their diploma requirements.
To read the school board’s annual report, visit here.
