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Officials argued the results reflect a number of significant challenges the system has faced over the past year
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Report card results dropped for public school students in social studies and science over the past year, rounding out a report that shows declining scores in all core subject areas.
Two weeks after examining scores that showed drops in math and English language arts from 2021-22 to 2022-23, trustees with the Calgary Board of Education discussed results in social studies, science and electives on Tuesday.
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Some of the more significant drops were seen in the “all students” cohort in grades 7 to 9, with social studies scores going from 2.88 in 2021-22 to 2.82 in 2022-23. In science, the “all students” cohort in grades 4 to 6 went from 2.96 to 2.93.
Students in grades K to 9 are graded on a scale of one to four, with each number given vague descriptors — one meaning “not meeting” (grade expectations), two meaning “basic,” three meaning “good” and four “excellent.”
For high school grades 10 to 12 — the only students still marked on a percentage scale — average scores in the “all students” cohort also dropped, going from 74.3 per cent for 2021-22 to 73.3 for 2022-23 in science. In social studies, scores went down from 72.3 to 71.6.
English language learners saw even larger drops in report card results, particularly high school students, going from 69 per cent to 67.1 in science, and dropping from 68.1 to 66.3 in social studies.
Across the five years of data sets, scores were, on average, highest in 2018-19, the last academic year before COVID had a multitude of negative effects on schools.
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CBE students rank highly compared to rest of Canada, world
But board chair Laura Hack focused on the positive results in the report, including improving graduation rates for some cohorts and standardized test scores where some grades showed higher results than provincial averages.
She also noted how CBE student results compare with the rest of Canada and the world.
“Results reports are important because they identify areas of student success and where improvements are needed to make the next best steps to support students,” Hack said.
“CBE students consistently outperform the province on provincial tests and exams. High school completion rates continue to increase.”
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Globally, Hack added, Alberta students ranked second in reading and science, and seventh in mathematics based on the 2022 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Programme for International Student Assessment.
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Within Canada, she said, Alberta students rank first in reading and science, and second in mathematics.
“No question that the past four years have been challenging for our students and staff. However, these positive results prove that CBE students are highly capable.”
Enrolment growth among CBE’s challenges
Tuesday’s discussion comes two weeks after administration presented dropping academic scores in math and English, showing diminishing report card results in all four core subject areas.
Officials argued the results reflect a number of significant challenges the system has faced over the past year, including changes to the K-6 curriculum and ongoing student absences, as well as unprecedented enrolment growth and the increased classroom complexity that comes with that.
Mike Nelson, interim CBE superintendent of school improvement, estimated that of the more than 135,000 students present in CBE classrooms at the end of 2022-23, more than 26,000 were brand new to the district.
And of those students, almost 7,200 arrived midway through the year, with a significant number entering through the Welcome Centre, where CBE assesses refugees and non-Canadian students.
The population of students learning English as an additional language went from 4,554 to 5,508 between 2021-22 and 2022-23.
eferguson@postmedia.com
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