A report that's called "a report card for the division" was recently approved by the Rocky View School's Board of Trustees and submitted to Alberta Education in Edmonton.  

The 2017 - 2018 Annual Education Results Report is a document that, according to Superintendent Greg Luterbach, combines provincial data, like how the division performed on diploma exams and provincial achievement tests, with data compiled by Rocky View through nearly 20,000 respondents.

Luterbach says, "It talks about everyhting from diploma exams to satisfaction to how kids are feeling on the bus and a wide variety.  Then we take that data and connect it to our existing four-year plan, so we have sections in there that we describe how we supported learners being successful, how we supported learners being supported and how we had learners being engaged as our main three goals."

The report shows RVS is doing extremely well in keeping students through high school and getting them to graduation.  Luterbach says those stats are something the division is very proud of.

"Across the province, sadly, 2.3 percent of students who get to grade ten don't end up graduating and in Rocky View, this past year, that was as low as 1.2 percent.  So that's great news, we're about half the provincial average but we're still not satisfied because we want every student to be able to graduate.  We continue to look at supports to make sure that everyone's graduating, but we need to be proud of that."

Luterbach says the same stat is kept for how First Nations, Metis, and Inuit students are doing and the drop out rate is around 2.8 percent, again about half the provincial average of just under five percent.

Not all of the results that the education report shows are good news.  One of the things that RVS students say is that they don't feel they have a voice in their learning.  Luterbach says Rocky View is always talking about "voice and choice" for learners.

"We need to make sure that we're asking kids about that.  Certainly, we have a curriculum that we have to teach and that curriculum is set by the provincial government and nobody wants us to vary from that, but some of it is in the approach to that learning.  We'll use the words 'voice and choice.'  Do students have a voice in their learning and a choice in how they get to represent their learning.   What we know is, when you give students a voice in their learning, they'll do amazing work and they'll be able to show you and connect it to what's important to them.  I think that's something that we need to continue to work on."

The report also talked about how the division is trying to connect the dots between learning and the real world.  Luterbach says that's done in some big ways, but more small ways.

"We talk about the big programs like Building Futures but we also know about how a school in Airdrie, the teacher has farmland and they grow potatoes on the land.  That could be the end of the story but that teacher has students that come out every year to connect the dots between what they're learning in science at a young age and how things grow. We have lots of examples where teachers and schools are out in our communities and bringing experts into our schools.  We know that's still an area that we need to bring attention to and focus to.  We know that kids want to make a difference in the world and sometimes we need to provide them with opportunities and get out of the way."

The full report can be seen on the Rocky View website.  Click on Publications.  

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