A report from the Northwest Territories Department of Education, Culture and Employment provides an initial review of the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on students.
This raises a number of concerns, declining kindergarten enrollment and negative trends in student well-being and development, and paints a bleak picture for the future.
“The shift to remote learning, limitations of connecting with the community, and participating in after-school systems have negatively impacted the well-being and educational reporting of most students,” the report concludes.
“In the coming years, [the department] predicts that grades, scores, and startup rates will be lower than in the years leading up to the pandemic. “
The report was released last week and compares knowledge collected in the 2020-21 school year with the last 3 school years.
“We recognise that there would possibly be longer-term consequences of those disruptions in COVID years,” John MacDonald, deputy minister of the Department for Education, Culture and Employment, told CBC News.
When it comes to kindergarten enrollment, the numbers paint two other stories about the territory.
While enrollment in 2020-2021 increased 7% in Yellowknife, outside the capital they fell. In the regional centers (Inuvik, Hay River, and Fort Smith), enrollment decreased by 13 percent, while in smaller communities it decreased by 12 percent. %
“We think COVID has really had a negative effect on enrollment, but we think there could be an uptick,” MacDonald said.
The report also used knowledge from a survey completed through kindergarten to assess students’ talents to meet age-appropriate developmental expectations for Grade 1, known as the Early Development Instrument.
In 2020/2021, about one-third of Yellowknife scholars (32%) were vulnerable. In smaller communities, more than a fraction of academics (57%) were vulnerable.
In both cases, the percentages were higher than the pre-pandemic figures.
The report used the effects of a survey of fourth and seventh graders, known as the Middle Years Development Instrument (MDI).
There has been no replacement in the well-being of fourth graders. Before the pandemic, only 30% were prosperous, a figure that remained unreplaced in 2020-2021.
However, seventh graders saw a decrease in the percentage of completed students, from 28% in the years leading up to the pandemic to 20% in 2020-2021.
The report says either degree also experienced declines in what MDI calls “assets” for them to thrive, adding peer and adult relationships, extracurricular activities, and adequate nutrition and sleep.
“Many of our students have schools for meals. Many of them have breakfast systems and snacks to take during the day. So I wouldn’t be surprised at all to know,” said Matthew Miller, president of the N. W. T. Teachers Association.
The report notes that final touch rates from top schools are highest for students in grades 10, 11 and 12 in 2021-2022. But this is likely due to the fact that fewer students were taking those courses, resulting in a higher pass rate, and the fact that exams were optional. Fewer than 30 were written nationally.
The report indicates that the initiation rate in 2020-2021 is 60% throughout the territory, a slight increase in the 3 years prior to the pandemic.
NWT’s startup rate allows students up to six years to complete high school, noting that the impact will be greatest in 2022 and 2023.
Last month, Statistics Canada reported that the on-time start rate in the NWTs for 2019/2020 was 46%, the lowest figure in Canada (although no rate was provided for Nunavut). Across Canada, the figure was 84%.
The start-to-time rate is the proportion of students who complete high school within 3 years of starting grade 10.
“I think regardless of the startup rate methodology, I think it’s fair to say we’re not satisfied,” MacDonald said.
The deputy minister said his branch focuses on student achievement and ends the hole with the rest of the county.
He pointed to a change to the B. C. program, which he said will “unlock a number of tweaks in terms of how students are taught and how they are informed and how we exercise teachers in the system. “
MacDonald says a review of a child and youth care counselor program is also underway in partnership with Health and Social Services that aims to address intellectual fitness issues.
For Miller, the big question is how academics will catch up. The most, he said, is to take them to class.
“The first thing we want to do as a formula, and this really reaches the network and parents and guardians in general, is that we want attendance rates, because if we don’t have students in the building, it doesn’t matter how smart their teachers are. No matter resources, bandwidth or devices. We want to make sure students get back into the classroom,” he said.
The report made little reference to school attendance and noted that “it was difficult to get it right from 2019-2020 through the 2021-2022 school year. “
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