Student Achievement Report highlights graduation rates, enrolment in Surrey

The Surrey School District’s latest Student Achievement Report shows both academic strides and areas of improvement for graduation rates, sense of belonging and the teaching of reading, writing and math skills.

Using data from the 2021-22 school year, Superintendent Mark Pearmain presented the report at the January public board meeting, providing an overview of student achievement across the district’s 129 elementary schools, secondary schools and learning centres.

“It’s always interesting to see how we’re doing in comparison to years prior,” said Pearmain. “When you parcel out different subgroups within the data, you begin to understand how we are doing to support students in different areas.”

The overall five-year graduation rate for the previous school year was 89%, up from 86% in 2020-21 and above the provincial average of 87%. The rates also increased for Indigenous students (57%, from 52% for the same period), English Language Learners (ELL) (90%, from 78%) and Students with Designations (66%, from 60%).

However, Children and Youth in Care (CYC), the smallest subgroup, saw a drop to 30% from the previous school year’s 33%, and CYC, ELL and Indigenous students were each below the provincial average for their subgroups.

“This is an area of focus in the district,” said Pearmain. “Our percentages are beginning to trend in the right direction, but we still have some more work to do in this area.

“Graduation rates are one static measure, and in many cases, we’re working very closely to support these children who have different needs at different times. We work with them to graduate through high school and into post-secondary, in terms of what will work for them in their personal journey.”

The report went on to show strong enrolment from kindergarten through Grade 12, with 74,234 students in the 2021-22 school year, making up 13.3% of the province’s total number of students.

Pearmain also referenced Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) data for Grade 4 to 7 students, noting an overall trend of students’ literacy and numeracy skills being slightly below the B.C. average in Grade 4 but slightly above by Grade 7. These skills also generally increased for Students with Designations, as did literacy for Indigenous students.

Lastly, the report analyzed data from a Student Learning Survey of nearly 10,000 Surrey students on their experiences with the district. The overall results of several questions are as follows:

• Do you feel welcome at your school? – 74% responded positively (B.C. average: 72%)
• At your school, how many adults do you feel care about you? – 58% responded positively (B.C. average: 60%)
• Is school a place you feel like you belong? – 60% responded positively (B.C. average: 57%)

“We know anecdotally from students that when they have strong connections with teachers and adults, there’s stronger engagement,” said Pearmain. “We also know in some cases, their school experience is the most consistent experience they have.

“We want to understand what our students have to say to us about their learning experience. This feedback is so critical in creating environments where all students feel that they are cared for, supported and belong.”

For a more detailed look at the data, see the 2021-22 Student Achievement Report.