NEWS PHOTO JEREMY APPEL Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education chair Dick Mastel (far left) speaks at Tuesday's meeting.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
The Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education revealed its 2019 accountability pillar results at its Tuesday meeting, which show generally strong rankings compared to provincial averages and past results.
The results come from an Alberta Education survey sent out to students, parents and teachers, where they rank their level of satisfaction in 16 categories.
In 12 of them, MHCBE achieved rankings better than the provincial average.
These achievements include a drop-out rate of 0.9 compared to 2.6 provincially, parental involvement of 83.8 compared to 81.3 and a six-year transition rate of 74 compared with 59.
The high school diploma exam participation rate was one category where MHCBE’s achievement declined, going down to 52.7 from 61.6, while the provincial average increased to 56.3 from 55.7.
Another was creating a safe and caring environment, which was 89 compared to 90.7 last year, although the current number matches the provincial average for both years.
Perceptions of education quality at MHCBE decreased to 92.3 from 93.1, although the current figure is slightly higher than the three-year average of 92, as well as the provincial average of 90.2.
Trustee David Leahy said the board should be proud of how it’s “sustained high performance in a number of, if not all, accountability pillar measures for well over a decade.”
Even in the one category where there’s been a decline – diploma exam participation rate – Leahy pointed out that the board’s three-year average of 58.4 exceeds the province’s of 55.1.
“It’s a blip,” he said. “It hasn’t been a pattern.”
The only categories where MHCBE’s three-year average is below the province’s are program of studies (80 compared with 81.9) and provincial achievements test excellence (19.2 versus 19.6).
Chair Dick Mastel said consistency is crucial in evaluating these results over a sustained period of time.
“Sports teams get to the top of the heap once in a while, but it’s very rare that they stay there,” said Mastel.
“There’s always competition to beat No. 1, but we’ve managed to stay at the top for a very long time and that is, I believe, more difficult than being the best for one year.”
MHCBE has a total of 2,629 students, which includes 125 English language learners and 81 First Nations, Métis and Inuit kids, as well as 129 full-time equivalent teachers and 155 FTE support staff.
