High school graduation rates rose in the 2019-20 school year despite the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
When the pandemic disrupted lives in March 2020, it had a huge impact on students who turned to online learning. Over the past two years, some school boards have shifted from online to in-person learning, further disrupting student livelihoods.
Despite the changes, in the 2019-20 school year, more students graduated on time across Canada. On-time graduation is the percentage of youth who complete high school within three years of starting Grade 10 (Secondary III in Quebec).
On-time graduation in Canada increased from 81% in the 2018-19 school year to 84% in 2019-20. Nova Scotia recorded the largest increase of six percentage points, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan with five percentage points more.
The Northwest Territories saw a three percentage point drop in on-time graduation, data was not available for Nunavut.
Overall, on-time graduation rates for almost all provinces and territories increased at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Statistics Canada)
“In 2019/2020, on-time high school graduation rates increased more than usual in almost all provinces and territories,” the report said. “While no direct conclusions can be drawn from these results, this uneven increase should be explored further in the context of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on education.”
According to StatCan, on-time graduation rates may be associated with education policies implemented by provincial or territorial governments during the pandemic.
Young people who complete high school within five years of starting grade 10 are classified in the extended-time graduation rate.
This rate remained stable during the early stages of the pandemic, according to the report. According to Statistics Canada, given the extended period of time given to some students to graduate, the pandemic would have affected graduates only between 2017-2018 and 2019-2020.
“This number of graduates is generally very low; therefore, the impacts of the pandemic would not have a large effect on long-term graduation rates,” the report states.
Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island had higher on-time graduation rates than extended-time graduation rates in 2019-20, StatCan found.
STUDENTS WITH EXTENDED DEGREES IMPACTED
On average across Canada, taking two years longer to complete high school had a positive effect on graduation rates.
Among students who started Grade 10 in the 2015-2016 school year, 81% graduated on time. Students who graduated within five years were significantly impacted by the pandemic and achieved an 89% graduation rate.
In Ontario, the effect of two additional years to complete school increased graduation rates by 10 percentage points (from 82% to 92%), followed by Quebec with eight percentage points more (from 75% to 83 %). Saskatchewan and British Columbia recorded increases of nine percentage points (79% to 88%) and eight percentage points (81% to 89%) each, while Alberta recorded an increase of seven points percentage (80% to 87%) increase in the number of students who took two more years to graduate.
MORE WOMEN COMPLETING HIGH SCHOOL
Young women have a higher graduation rate than their male peers in the 2019-2020 school year. According to the Canada-wide report, a higher proportion of women (87%) completed high school on time compared to young men (81%).
This trend, according to StatCan, has been observed in all provinces and territories and has been observed for all years of available data.