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School District 73 is setting new district records in high school completion rates, continuing to surge past provincial averages.

SD73 hit new district records in its five and six year student completion rates in the 2023-24 school year.

The district saw 91 per cent of resident students, 78.5 per cent Indigenous students and 73.1 per cent of diverse abilities students complete high school in five years, good for 4.5 per cent, 13.7 per cent and 4.9 per cent above provincial averages respectively.

It was a similar story for six year completion rates, with 95 per cent of resident students, 88 per cent of Indigenous students and 78 per cent of diverse abilities students graduating in that time. Those rates were 3.9 per cent, 10 per cent and 3.1 per cent above provincial rates.

Completion rates among all demographics climbed, with the exception of status on-reserve students — which fell approximately four per cent in five-year and two per cent in six-year completion rates.

That decline comes after status on-reserve students jumped by 15 per cent in six-year and 19 per cent in five-year completion rates the year before.

Rick Kienlein, director of instruction in secondary learning services, said gaps in completion rates between demographics have been steadily narrowing when observed over the last three years.

“The SD73 equity gap between non-Indigenous and Indigenous and non-diverse abilities and diverse ability students continues to persist,” Kienlein said.

“However … the equity gap is narrowing and is more narrow than the provincial average equity gap.”

He said the number of students successfully completing school has increased, reflecting a decrease in the number of SD73 students receiving an adult dogwood. But a higher rate of Indigenous students receive an adult dogwood than non-Indigenous students.

“This is something that we are watching carefully and disaggregated data is enabling more precise understanding,” Kienlein said.

“This, along with a focus from students at the margins, will better inform the next level of work.”

Trustee Diane Jules said it was good to see progress on narrowing gaps in completion rates, but said she was worried about on-reserve students showing lower completion rates.

She said she’d like to see a comparison between the number of on-reseve and off-reserve students receiving adult dogwoods.

Board chair Heather Grieve suggested the board of education could look to better understand what strategies are being used to engage on-reserve students.

“I think that is something that we would continue to see as a board of education to help us understand resource allocation, things like that,” Grieve said.