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School District No. 43 (Coquitlam)
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SD43 graduation rates above provincial average, Canadian education system touted ‘high-quality’

January 10, 2020

SD43 graduation post.png

School District No. 43 (Coquitlam) graduation rates are consistently above the provincial average and Board of Education Chair Kerri Palmer Isaak commented, “Once again, we celebrate the students of SD43 and their achievements. Six-year completion and graduation rates that are above the provincial average are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our students and staff – congratulations!". ​

Six-year graduation rates are based on the number of students who receive their diploma within six years of enrolling in Grade 8. For resident students in SD43, 95.2% are graduating within the six-year time frame, up slightly from last year's rate of 94.6%. The provincial average of 89.3% is up slightly from 88.7% in 2017-2018. Gains for SD43 were most significant for students that are English Language Learners, moving from 88.5% in 2017-2018 to 93.2% in 2018-2019 and Indigenous Students who are up from 72.4% to 73.4%. School District 43 results are consistently some of the highest in the province, especially for such a large district.

​Meanwhile, a global education study places Canadian students among the world's top six. The findings are part of the 2018 Program International Student Assessment (PISA) which is a global yardstick of education systems taken every three years by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a grouping of the world's richest economies. A record 600,000 students in 79 countries took part in the survey assessing reading, math and science. Teen students from a sampling in China took top honours.

“We are exceedingly proud of our completion rates in School District 43 and pleased Canadian students have been recognized as high achievers internationally by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development" said Superintendent Patricia Gartland in light of the PISA results. Ms. Gartland went on to say: “SD43 has always strived to encourage students to be global citizens and to prepare them for active participation in the global economy."

A particular strength for the Canadian education system noted in the OECD report is that the it delivers a high-quality education across the entire system. This means children from all socio-economic ranges have tremendous opportunity to achieve and have equitable access to educational opportunities and post-graduate success. One measure of such access is reading level. Canada, for example, has students with an average reading level that is higher than the OECD average while the connections to socio-economic status and lower reading performance were limited. School District 43 recently conducted its own equity scan to help identify high-priority learners within our local system. Identifying high-priority learners early in their educational journey greatly increases their future success in school and beyond.

You can read the full PISA 2018 report on the OECD website here: https://www.oecd.org/pisa/PISA%202018%20Insights%20and%20Interpretations%20FINAL%20PDF.pdf

School District No. 43 (Coquitlam)

1080 Winslow Avenue, Coquitlam BC
V3J 0M6
604-939-9201 604-939-7828