Students are reporting they don't feel engaged in their learning according to the annual education report released by Rocky View Schools (RVS) for the 2017-18 school year. They're also struggling to reach excellence on provincial and diploma exams. In the RVS report, more than 40 per cent of students said they don't feel engaged in their studies while almost 90 per cent of staff and more than 80 per cent of parents thought the contrary. Greg Luterbach, RVS superintendent, said it's an area that the school board is looking to address in its next four-year plan. "What the survey tells us from students is that they continue to want a stronger voice in what's going on in their classrooms and then how they get to demonstrate their learning and how they're assessed," Luterbach said. Acceptable grades (50 per cent or higher) on the Provincial Achievement Tests (PATs) are on par with province but not as many students are excelling. The kindergarten to Grade 9 students achieving acceptable grades on their PATs are generally on par with the province but the excellence level (85 per cent or higher) is slipping. For example, RVS students achieving excellence in Language Arts (LA) is 12.1 where as the provincial average is 17.9. In math only 8.7 per cent of RVS students compared to 14 per cent around the province and in science, 24 per cent of RVS students compared to the province's average of 30.5 percent. "We know there's lots of continued conversations around the province," Luterbach said, adding there are now two numeracy specialists rotating throughout RVS to help support students in math. The participation rate for the Grade 10 to 12 diplomas is increasing and those achieving acceptable – 82.7 per cent this year – remains at an intermediate level and on par with the provincial average. The excellence level for RVS diploma students – 20.4 per cent this year – is equal to their peers in Alberta. "At the high school and diploma level, I think it's certainly bouncing back compared to what it looked like in grade six and nine," Luterbach said. He added that while the PAT and diploma exams are important, RVS is also focusing on unpacking the total school grade of students and deciphering how well students are performing in the classroom instead of basing the students' achievement solely on provincial exams. "One of the things we really look at is what's the difference between their school mark and their test mark, that might tell us we need to tweak a little bit, we need to bring more attention to this unit," he said. The PATs grades for First Nations, Métis and Inuit (FNMI) students however, is causing concern for the jurisdiction. There was a significant decline in the percentage of k-9 FNMI students achieving an acceptable grade on their PAT exams within RVS – 52.1 per cent from 60.2 per cent last year – though it's still in line with the provincial average which remains at 51.7 per cent. The number of FNMI K-9 achieving excellence on their PATs – 4.9 per cent this year compared to seven per cent last year – is also low. The provincial average this year was 6.6 per cent. FNMI students achieving acceptable standards on their diploma exams is lower than last year – 78.2 from 80.6 – but still above the provincial average of 77.1 per cent. The number of FMNI students achieving excellence increased to 14.5 per cent from 10.4 and remains higher than the province's 11 per cent. Luterbach also highlighted the relatively low drop out rate for the general population of RVS students – 1.2 per cent – compared to the province's 2.3 per cent. The dropout rate for FNMI students in the jurisdiction is 2.8 per cent which is more than double compared to last year's 1.2 per cent but still much lower compared to the provincial average of 4.8 per cent. "That's something to celebrate," Luterbach said.
