One in three NLSD students graduating on time

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“I think one of the biggest challenges with that continues to be attendance for us as a school division, and I think our schools do a good job of grappling with that issue and trying to find ways they can ensure that kids are coming to school every day. It’s ongoing work that we are embarking on here to encourage attendance.”

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Data on the NLSD three-year high school graduation rates. (Northern Lights School Division)

Credit attainment also continues to be an issue across the division and that, too, hasn’t changed in the last 10 years. Only 20 per cent of NLSD students obtain eight or more credits in an academic year between Grades 10 to 12 compared to 60 per cent for the rest of the province.

In specific, 42 per cent of non-Indigenous students are achieving that standard in the division compared to 19 per cent of the Indigenous students.

“I would say, again, attendance needs to be continued to be worked on,” Young said.

“I’d say just continuing to incorporate or work on the strategies we have in place to try and engage kids and help them be successful along their educational journey. It is very important to review that data and have conversations about that data and try to move the dial on that for sure.”

Data on NLSD student credit attainment. (Northern Lights School Division)

One area NLSD has seen improvement on in recent years is the proportion of Grade 3 students reading at or above grade level. That percentage took a massive hit during the pandemic, going from 51 per cent in 2019 to two per cent in 2021. It has since risen to 28 per cent in 2023.

“I like what I am seeing in terms of some of our reading data for sure,” Young explained.

“We are seeing a trend there going in the right direction. That’s something we monitor monthly or every other month just to see how we are trending and how we can respond if we don’t see it trending in the right direction.”

Young stated the issuing of the annual report is always a good time to reflect on what is in it, and then to create new strategies and connect with stakeholders about improving the data. One area he is proud of is the division’s effort to incorporate more Indigenous language programming in the schools.

In 2023, the NLSD had 267.5 full-time teachers, 25.5 principals or vice-principals and 300.5 educational support staff. In total, it has nearly 700 full-time employees.

There were also 3,910 students across 20 schools across Northern Saskatchewan. Read the full annual report online here.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com