After many years of low graduation rates among Indigenous students in Surrey, the school district is starting to see a rise, moving closer to its goal.
At the regular March 12 school board meeting, a presentation was made on the progress of Indigenous student graduation rates in the province. In 2023, the district stated their goal of increasing the rate of graduation within five years to up to 20 per cent. After taking a dip in the 2022-23 school year, the district seems to be back on track as last year's numbers indicate a rise.
“The graduation rate is the gold standard across the province and what everyone looks at as the indicator of how successful the school districts are, in particular with Indigenous learners,” Lyn Daniels, the district's director of instruction with Indigenous learning, said in a press release.
“Thankfully, all of our efforts have seen improvement in our five-year completion rate, and as well as our six-year completion rate.”
For the 2023-24 school year, Surrey's public schools had a makeup of 3.9 per cent Indigenous students who self-identified as such that year, according to a provincial report.
In 2021-22, 57 per cent of Indigenous students in Surrey graduated within a five-year period, which was below the provincial average at the time, 65 per cent. The following year, only 50 per cent of students graduated and last year, the rate rose back to 57 per cent. For students graduating within six years rather than five, the rate has been higher, from 64 to 75 per cent, according to the report.
In comparison, non-Indigenous students graduated at a rate of 88 per cent last year.
Between 2023 and 2028, the district has a goal to increase Indigenous student graduation rates by 15 to 20 per cent. In order to reach this feat, Surrey Schools has outlined different strategies to enhance emotional and academic support for this population of students and work with the learners on an individual by individual basis.
Many staff supports are in place for Indigenous students specifically, such as helping teachers, graduation advocates, child and youth workers, inclusive education support workers, cultural facilitators and transition teams.
While within the timeframe the district has seen an 11 per cent increase and expressed hope in reaching that minimum 15 per cent, the increased graduation rate last year only came after a large dip between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years.
Trustees Terry Allen and Laurie Larsen both expressed gratitude towards the Indigenous learning department and optimism that student success will continue to increase.
“This was a big issue for the school district, certainly for the board of education, and I can’t thank you enough to see that there has been some improvement,” Allen said.
“Of course, we continue to hope that that pattern continues, but at the end of the day, we’re starting to see what the board really wants to see and what you want to see. I thank you and all your staff for the progress that’s been made on what the board considers to be one of its most important issues.”
