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Board Administration and Trustees at District School Board Ontario North East say they are committed to improving high school graduation rates.

At their regular meeting Tuesday night, Board Chair Doug Shearer discussed a report released that same day by the Ministry of Education. The report showed the five-year graduation rate in the province at 85.5 percent, compared to 65.5 percent for DSB Ontario North East.

“The rates are very close to last year, which disappoints us. We had hoped to make some progress,” said Shearer. “We do know that we have seen an increase in credit accumulation in the Applied courses of Grade 9 and 10.”

The report follows students who entered Grade 9 in September 2010. The Provincial graduation rate only includes students who earn an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) after five years. A student must earn 30 credits and 40 hours of community service to earn their OSSD.

There is also concern with the amount of students earning their diploma in four years….only 46.1 percent, compared to the province’s average of 78.3 percent. But Shearer explained that DSB Ontario North East faces many different challenges such as a significantly high percentage of students with special needs. He added that the report doesn’t really address the Board’s specific challenges.

“The problem with this report is that it doesn’t delve into a lot of the detail as to what’s going on in our schools,” adds Shearer. “For example, it doesn’t look at certificates…only diplomas. It doesn’t look at our problems with the funding formula that have our students staying in school longer because we can’t provide the courses. It’s interesting to note that while some of the other Northern Boards have improved, the lowest graduation rates are once again in Northern Ontario. We are not seeing a Ministry approach that is addressing this problem.”

“More details will be coming in the next few weeks as to how we missed the mark for improvement in our graduation rates, and the Board will take action on that.”