Red Deer Public Schools had positive news to share from their 2020/2021 Annual Education Results Report .

By Alessia Proietti

Education results for Red Deer Public Schools

Highest high school completion rates in 10 years

Nov 22, 2021 | 3:43 PM

Red Deer Public Schools’ Annual Education Results Report for the 2020/2021 school year has come in with some positive news this month.

Presented to the Board of Trustees recently, the report provides a summary of the accomplishments of strategies and goals from the Three Year Education Plan.

“A lot of it has to do with our staff. I don’t know how I can express my gratitude and appreciation from our board to the dedication of our staff because they rose to the occasion throughout this pandemic and deserve all the kudos,” said Nicole Buchanan, Board Chair of Red Deer Public Schools.

Some of the highlights include the following:

Red Deer Public Schools saw its highest level of high school completion in the past 10 years. Within three years of entering Grade 10, 85 per cent of students graduated. As well, the year saw its highest level of high school completion within four years of entering Grade 10, with 85.2 per cent graduating and 84.8 per cent within five years.

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The number of students qualifying to receive the Alexander Rutherford High School Achievement Scholarship was 66.9 per cent, the highest in the past seven years, a 2.2 per cent increase from last year and a 6.4 per cent increase from the previous three-year average. The $2,500 scholarship, named after Alberta’s first Premier and Minister of Education who strongly supported public education, is eligible for students who have completed high school and are enrolled in a full-course load post-secondary school or a minimum one month apprenticeship program.

For reading, teachers performed over 5,400 benchmarks, using the Fountas & Pinnell assessment, from September 2020 to June 2021. Officials decribe the assessment as a tool to measure students’ reading levels and progress. Within one year of studies, 76 per cent of Grade 1 to 8 students were reading at their grade level. While the goal was 80 per cent, the district attributes this to the pandemic causing students to isolate from home at various times throughout the year.

Buchanan also noted another highlight was the success among First Nations, Metis and Inuit students in Red Deer Public Schools. In June 2020, 70.6 per cent graduated within three years of entering Grade 10.

“Not only was this the highest level of graduation we have ever seen of Indigenous students, we were over eight per cent higher than the provincial average,” said Buchanan.

For the pandemic, the district created their “At Home Learning” school, hiring their first ever full-time virtual teaching staff of 18 professors. Using Google Classroom and Google Meets, 900 students from kindergarten to Grade 12 were learning in a hybrid fashion, moving between in-class and online learning.

Consequently, next year’s priority, Buchanan says, is focused on recovery.

“We passed a motion for $1 million to be allocated for recovery and that will go towards helping out staff and students close that learning gap and address that mental health support that we are recognizing as a result of the pandemic,” said Buchanan.

Red Deer Public Schools governs 28 schools in the city: 13 elementary, five middle, two high schools, and eight alternatives.