At their regular meeting on December 14, the Board of Trustees accepted the Black Gold School Division 2021-22 Annual Education Results Report (AERR) as presented for submission to Alberta Education by December 16, 2022.

The Alberta government has a system for schools and school authorities to consistently assess progress and demonstrate success called the Assurance Framework, which is designed to build public trust and confidence that the education system is meeting the needs of students and enabling their success. 

Annually, the Black Gold School Division (BGSD) reviews its performance and results to assess its progress toward achieving the goals outlined by Alberta Education and the Division’s Education Plan. The review includes examining and reporting on provincial and local measures and identifying strategies that inspire success.

For the 2021-2022 school year, the Division continued to exceed the Acceptable rate – approximately six percent above the provincial average for both Provincial Achievement Tests (PAT) and Diploma results. 

Overall, the results have demonstrated consistency in students completing high school:

• Year 4 and 5 High school completion rates have increased over the 5-year period, while 3-year completion rates have remained consistent.
• Self-identified Indigenous students in BGSD continue to achieve significantly higher than the provincial average in all measures. 
• Rutherford Scholarships have varied little and remain at approximately 60% eligibility rate.
• Dropout rates have remained consistent at slightly over 2%, reflecting a provincial achievement rating of excellent.

“Our school administrators have begun to work collaboratively with teachers to establish goals based on student data and discuss progress toward these,” said Norm Dargis, Associate Superintendent of Learning Services. “They are also providing instructional leadership in implementing strategies and skills for literacy and numeracy.”

Black Gold schools continue to provide a variety of relevant and focused course offerings to support students toward a career path or complete their high school requirements in a fashion that is appropriate for their situation. 

The Division ensures that non-traditional learning options are available to students Non-traditional learning opportunities include home-based, outreach, distance education (virtual school), and in-reach programming. “Through the continued maintenance, evergreening, course development, knowledge and accessibility of these programs, our students continue to experience success,” said Dargis. “We will continue to offer students a variety of flexible learning opportunities and will increase students’ awareness of post-secondary opportunities through dual credit course offerings and support career planning with the MyBluePrint software.”

During the 2021-22 school year, student and teacher absences, instructional time priorities and pedagogical shifts impacted educational delivery and student learning. Black Gold schools have allocated extra resources over three years to target the learning gap. 

“It is apparent that Covid affected our school communities,” said Superintendent of Schools Bill Romanchuk. “Returning schools to normal operations with extracurricular activities, volunteering, field trips, clubs, and more will help make schools a happier and healthier place for students and staff. This will position students for future success.”