Our students completed the TTFM Survey in November of 2015. The report we received is divided into three categories: School Completion Report, Bullying and School Safety Report, and Student Outcomes and School Climate Report. Results were shared and reports distributed at the February 3 Home and School meeting. Over the next series of weekly newsletters, segments of the report will be shared in each of the different areas.
School Completion - An Introduction:
Only about three of every four Canadian students graduate from secondary school in the typical timeframe, although many students who drop out of school later pursue adult education programs that lead to a high school diploma.1 School completion is a significant predictor of a students' long-term health, economic success and general well-being. Therefore, the 'completion rate' is a key marker of the efficiency of the formal K-12 school system. Longitudinal studies that have followed students through to the school-leaving age have identified a number of demographic and school-related factors related to school completion.2,3 Literacy skills, engagement, and positive mental health are among the most important protective factors. Data on these factors can be used to gauge a student's chance of completing secondary school. Schools can improve school completion rates by increasing students' literacy skills, monitoring student engagement, building trusting relationships, tackling issues concerning bullying and school safety, and establishing effective family-school partnerships.4,5
Key Findings from the Research
* All children have a certain probability of completing school, which depends on a complex set of factors associated with their family background, academic achievement, engagement, mental health, and the learning climate of their school.
* The Tell Them From Me student survey provides reliable measures of these factors, which can be conceived as assets that children acquire as they progress through school.
* We can use data on students' assets to identify different types of students based on a profile of their academic grades, engagement, and mental health. Analyses of data from over 500,000 Canadian students identified five types of students with differing profiles of these key assets.
* Measures of students' assets can also be used to estimate the probability that a student will complete secondary school. The formula for predicting the probability takes into account the relative importance of the various predictive factors based on the findings from several longitudinal studies.
* We can consider two types of interventions. The first type entails whole-school initiatives aimed at increasing the academic and social-emotional assets of all students, thereby increasing the likelihood they will graduate. The second type involves identifying students who are most at risk of dropping out, and providing a targeted intervention to help them complete school.
* Schools can make a difference. The Alberta study, School Completion in Alberta Schools, provides compelling evidence that schools vary in their school completion rates, even after taking account of students' family backgrounds.
Students from Carman Collegiate completed the Tell Them From Me survey in November 2015, which included measures of the most important assets related to school completion. The report summarizes the results and discusses how they relate to whole-school and targeted interventions.
If you would like to see a copy of this report, feel free to contact our school office. Again, segments of the report will be shared through this newsletter over the next several weeks.
