Superintendent's Report on Achievement

Every year, our Superintendent, Dr. Keven Elder, prepares a report on student achievement and shares that report with the community. This report is completed in order to comply with a reporting requirement of the School Act, but more than that it is an opportunity to share some district thinking on progress that we are making in key areas of learning. It also provides us with a chance to speak of some challenges and what we are doing to affect improvement.

The eight-page report is attached and contains considerable detail including data analysis in relation to our adjusted school-completion (graduation) rate. It also includes updates on sixteen objectives contained in our district achievement contract.

The report is divided into four areas, summarized as follows:

1. Our provincial results continue to be strong in overall in areas such as Foundation Skills Assessment, provincial exam results and parent satisfaction. Our six-year completion rate for all students is 64% according to Ministry of Education data, but the adjusted rate for Saanich students is a healthy 84%.

   The lower Ministry number incorporates international students who were not here to graduate as well as students who came to Saanich after grade 10 to take at least one course at SIDES or ILC (our very successful distributed learning and alternate schools). We are proud of those programs and the fact that they offer hope and success to so many students from around the province. The Saanich six-year completion rate for aboriginal students is 28% according to Ministry data, but our adjusted rate, as described in the full report, is 49%. Our goal is to have the First Nations completion rate be the same as the overall district completion rate.

2. Our achievement contract targets are, for the most part, being met or exceeded in our goal areas of completion rate, literacy achievement, numeracy achievement and social responsibility. But we are not complacent. We have identified specific concerns, and we are confident that the initiatives, innovations and strategies that we have put in place will make a difference in key areas of achievement.
3. Connections among the achievement contract, the superintendent’s report on achievement, the district literacy plan, our early learning plan and the WSANEC, Other First Nations, Metis and Inuit Education Enhancement Agreement are described in the report.
4. Our children in care initiatives are described in the report, and we are proud to say that our schools all have people assigned to monitor the successes of children in care. Connections with the Ministry of Children and Families are also in place to ensure regular communication and consistency of support for children in care.

Questions or comments are welcome at any time, including via email directly with Superintendent Elder at kelder@sd63.bc.ca.