Local Catholic schools and students scored above the provincial average in several categories, according to an annual report released by Alberta Education.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education trustees heard results this week from Alberta Education’s annual report, highlighting strong performance metrics throughout the division and calling attention to a three-year increase in diploma excellence scores.
Deputy superintendent Nick Gale provided a presentation Tuesday that underlined high points within the school division that include a 90.3 per cent score in the quality of education, 87 per cent in welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environment, and its students scored a 91 per cent in high school compilation rate, all three categories exceeding provincial averages.
“Our three-year and five-year high school completion rates are really quite excellent compared to provincial averages,” said Gale.
Over the past three years, Monsignor McCoy High School students have increased the diploma acceptable standard from 71.6 per cent to 83.2 per cent, and have increased education quality to 91.9 per cent, an increase over the previous year according to the report.
“So we’re showing continuous improvement in that area each year, which is exciting,” said Gale, who cited the high school’s strong parental involvement, reported at 82.5 per cent. “Which is excellent to see.”
The report shows McCoy exceeded the provincial acceptance standards in seven of nine categories, including Physics 30, Social Studies 30-2 and Language Arts 30-1 and 30-2. However, Math 30-1 scores are more than 15 per cent below provincial average.
Last year, Notre Dame Academy provided its students with an educational quality of 90.5 per cent and an 86.7 per cent student learning engagement.
“An overall education quality of 90.5, really excellent things at Notre Dame,” said Gale.
St. Mary’s School exceeded the provincial acceptable standard by 14 per cent at 76.5 per cent, compared with 62.5 per cent, and reported a high student engagement of 87.9 per cent and an 81 per cent in citizenship.
“They’ve done a tremendous job with their access to support we’re getting to our elementary schools,” explained Gale.
Students at Mother Teresa School scored slightly below provincial averages in acceptable standards of education at 66.7 per cent compared to the average of 68.5 per cent, however students scored an 80.6 per cent acceptable standard in science compared to the average of 68..
St. Francis School highlighted a 94 per cent in educational quality and a 90 per cent parental involvement. Last year students improved by 23 per cent in the acceptable standard in education.
Every parent at St. Louis School was involved in their children’s education, as the school scored a perfect 100 per cent in parent engagement, and a 96.3 per cent in quality of education. Its students exceeded provincial averages in seven of eight categories.
And every student at St. Micheal’s School met the acceptable standards of education, scoring 100 per cent, 32 per cent higher than the provincial average. More than half its students met the standard of excellence in education, exceeding the average by 15 per cent.
“They had 100 per cent of the students in social and 100 per cent of the students in science who were successful at the acceptable standard and again scoring very high in education,” said Gale.
St. Patrick’s School exceeded the provincial average in four categories and scored very high in education quality, parental involvement and citizenship, and Ecole St. John Paul II School scored high in education quality and citizenship.
