New data from Statistics Canada shows that high school graduation rates have increased in the 2019-2020 school year despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the pandemic disrupted life in March 2020, it had a huge impact on students who switched to online learning. Several school boards over the past two years have changed from online learning to face-to-face learning, further disrupting student livelihoods.
Despite the changes, in the 2019-2020 school year, many students graduate on time across Canada. Graduation on time is the percentage of young adults who complete high school within three years of starting Grade 10 (Level 3 in Quebec).
On-time graduation across Canada has increased from 81% in the 2018-2019 school year to 84% in 2019-2020. Nova Scotia had the largest increase by six percentage points, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan with five percentage points higher.
The Northwest Territories saw a three percentage point drop in on-time rating, data not available for Nunavut.
Overall, on-time graduation rates in most provinces and territories increased during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Statistics Canada)
“In 2019/2020, the rate of high school graduation on time was higher than usual in most provinces and territories,” the report said. “Although no direct conclusions can be drawn from these results, this unusual increase needs to be explored further in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education.”
The on-time graduation rate may be related to education policies implemented by provincial or territorial governments during the pandemic, StatCan said.
Young people who complete high school graduation within five years of starting Grade 10 are included in the extended graduation rate.
This rate remained stable during the early stages of the pandemic, according to the report. Given the length of time it takes for some students to graduate, StatCan said, the pandemic will only affect graduates between 2017-2018 and 2019-2020.
“This number of graduates is usually very small; therefore the impacts of the pandemic will not have a major impact on graduation rates in the long run,” the report said.
Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island had higher on-time graduation rates than extended graduation rates in 2019-2020, StatCan found.
STUDENTS HAVE GRADUATION EXPANDED TO IMPACT
On average across Canada, taking an extra two years to complete high school has a positive impact on graduation rates.
Of students entering 10th grade during the 2015-2016 school year, 81% graduated on time. Students who graduated within 5 years were significantly impacted by the pandemic and had a graduation rate of 89%.
In Ontario, the effect of two years of extra tuition to complete schooling increased graduation rates by 10 percentage points (from 82 percent to 92 percent), followed by Quebec with eight percentage points higher ( from 75 percent to 83 percent). Saskatchewan and British Columbia rose nine percentage points (79 percent to 88 percent) and eight percentage points (81 percent to 89 percent), while Alberta increased seven percentage points (80 percent to 87 percent). ) increased the number of students taking an extra two years to graduate.
MORE WOMEN COMPLETE high school.
The percentage of young women graduating is higher than that of boys in the 2019-2020 school year. According to reports across Canada, a higher percentage of women (87%) complete high school on time than young men (81%).
According to StatCan, this trend was seen in all provinces and territories and was seen in all years for which data is available.
