There has been a significant drop in high school graduation since the introduction of the reorganized Ontario high school curriculum in grade 9, of the 1999-2000 school year.
Significant drops in four- and five-year high school graduation rates over the past five years demand a systematic review of the Ontario high school curriculum, according to a Queen’s study led by Alan King, an expert in education policy and program evaluation, and founding director of the university’s Social Program Evaluation Group (SPEG).
To improve the likelihood of graduation for students at risk, Dr. King recommends that:
Courses should be more tailored to students’ abilities and aspirations."Not only is the four-year graduation rate well below the rates in other provinces but the five-year graduation rate has also decreased to 70 per cent from 78 per cent," says Dr. King.
The Ontario government commissioned Queen’s SPEG to begin the four-phase Double Cohort study in the 2000-01 school year.
Released by the province today, this is the final phase of the study examining the effect of the double cohort and the reorganized program on future college and university enrolments, as well as factors affecting student progress and secondary school graduation rates over the first five cohorts. The study also reveals significant differences between the findings for Anglo-Ontarian schools and Franco-Ontarian schools. It is the fourth in a series of studies carried out by SPEG.
For the next few years Ontario four-year graduation rates will remain significantly lower than in British Columbia, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, says Dr. King. On the other hand, the level of achievement in grades 9 and 10 for those students entering high school as part of the second, third, fourth and fifth cohorts in the Reorganized Program indicate that there will be a slight improvement in each succeeding year.
According to this final report, graduation rates were affected most by the fact that students were failing courses and losing credits in grade 9 and 10 in required courses, especially those students taking applied and locally developed courses.
Academic and applied courses set high expectations for students while preparing them for studies in the senior grades. Open courses, also offered in grades 11 and 12 prepare students for further study in certain subjects and enrich their education generally.
In grades 11 and 12, courses include university preparation courses, university/college preparation courses, college preparation courses, and workplace preparation courses.
Most grade 9 and 10 applied courses had failure rates between 12 and 20 per cent over the course of the Double Cohort Study, and most of the students who lost credits in grades 9 and 10 open courses were taking mainly applied courses. Progress to graduation is difficult for these students according to the study.
The large gap in credit accumulation by the end of grade 10 between those taking applied and academic courses is exacerbated by high failure rates in grades 11 and 12 college- and workplace- preparation courses compared to university-preparation courses, says King.
The study also reveals that very few students enroll in college- and workplace- preparation programs. The pattern of low achievement in courses such as grades 9 and 10 applied mathematics, can create unhealthy learning environments that overflow into other classrooms and affect student motivation.
The good news, says King, is that the study showed a change from 28 to 33 per cent of students enrolling in university, based on the grade 9 enrolment of the previous four or five years.
Findings for Franco-Ontarian students include:
