Appendices

Appendix A: Dogwood Completion Rate

A User's Guide to the Six-Year Dogwood Completion Rate

The Dogwood Completion rate is the percentage of Grade 8 students who graduate with a Dogwood within six years. The Dogwood Completion rate is NOT the inverse of a 'dropout rate' as students may graduate after the six year period. The rate is based on selecting a specific group ('cohort') of students who arrive in Grades 8 to 12 in a school district over a six year period ('Years 1 – 6'), and analyzing the success of those students in obtaining a Dogwood certificate from that District by the end of the period. They may move temporarily to other districts in the interim, but that district must be the last district that the student is observed at in British Columbia in the period. That District is considered to be the one responsible for graduating the students ('the District of Responsibility'). The cohort uses all students who either start in the District of Responsibility in Grade 8 in year 1, or arrive in the District of Responsibility in higher grades in later years in the six year period. By the end of the period the student may:

1. have graduated from Grade 12 in B.C. with a Dogwood Certificate (from the District of Responsibility); or may
2. have left B.C. for the duration of the period (directly from the District of Responsibility); or may
3. have remained in B.C. and not completed a Dogwood (includes dropouts and students graduating after end of period).

These figures are used to calculate the Dogwood Completion rate. The cohort includes arrivals into the District of Responsibility from other districts (from both Independent and Public systems) and arrivals into the District from out-of-Province. All students present in the school system are included in exactly one cohort (for one district only) in the completion rate calculated for one and only one year.

This process ensures all students selected were hypothetically in Grade 8 for the first time (i.e., a non-repeater of Grade 8 or a student at an equivalent level of work) at the same time (either within the Province or outside the Province) — based on the data that is available from the B.C. school system. Arrivals in all years must be non-repeaters of the Grade of Entry into the cohort, otherwise they would already be included in a previous cohort.

B.C. Completions: All students in the cohort selected above who obtain a Dogwood Certificate by the end of Year 6 are tallied as successful completions. All students in the cohort are given one extra year to graduate (Year 6) — however, they may graduate before year 5 or 6 if they advance more rapidly within the period. Students may also repeat one or more grades during the period — as long as they graduate by the end of the period. However, most of the students in the cohort are in the same grade at the same time.

Out-Migration: Dogwood Completion Rates are adjusted for provincial out-migration (students who may successfully complete school elsewhere) by calculating the provincial out-migration rate for students in Grades 2-4, in each district. This allows the number of students who remain in B.C. but do not complete school by the end of the period (B.C. Non-Completions) to be estimated. The Dogwood Completion rate is calculated as follows:

(Total B.C. Completions) divided by (Total B.C. Completions + B.C. Non-Completions)

The rate is reported for Year 6: e.g., if Year 1 = 1995/96 and Year 6 = 2000/01 the rate is reported as the 2000/01 rate.

Appendix B: Accountability Framework Methodology

The Accountability Framework

The accountability framework, rooted in the School Act, reflects a public commitment to improve student results. The accountability framework includes: plans developed by school planning councils, accountability contracts supported by Aboriginal Enhancement Agreements and the Ministry of Education district review process.

School Plans and School Planning Councils

School Planning Councils acknowledge the importance of parental involvement and formalize the role of parents in the development of plans for the improvement of student achievement in all schools in British Columbia.

From the School Act:

"By a date specified by the board, a school planning council must prepare and submit to the board a plan for the school in respect of improving student achievement . . ." 8.3(2)

Plans developed by school planning councils are an integral part of the school district's accountability contract.

District Accountability Contracts

The purpose of the Accountability Contract is to focus district attention and resources on improving student achievement. The Accountability Contract is a plan based on evidence that reflects the School Board's commitment to improve student achievement. To support the work of improving the achievement of all students many districts have developed Aboriginal Enhancement Agreements that specifically focuses on the achievement of Aboriginal students. Accountability contracts are submitted to the ministry annually on October 31 and are made public on the ministry website.

School plans and accountability contracts inform district reviews.

District Reviews

The purpose of district reviews is to provide feedback and recommendations to school districts, the Minister and the public regarding the school districts' efforts to improve student achievement. District reviews focus on ten key areas (The Ten Points of Inquiry) related to school and district improvement: goals, rationale, data, strategies, structures, results, communication, teamwork-school and district coherence, teamwork-parent involvement and leadership. The district review team is chaired by a superintendent and composed of educators, parents and ministry staff.

The review team provides a report to the board, the Minister and the public with specific recommendations related to the improvement of student achievement in the district.

Districts are expected to outline the actions taken in response to the review recommendations in a response to the Deputy Minister. District actions are also reflected in subsequent school plans and accountability Contracts.

Appendix C: New Era Commitments Achieved

1. Restore education as an essential service under the Labour Code.
2. Maintain and increase education funding levels by increasing revenues through economic growth.
3. Establish specific goals and outcomes to measure the success of educators in public schooling.
4. Devote more of each education dollar to improving the quality of education and less to bureaucracy.
5. Support more flexibility and choice in public schooling.
6. Give local school boards more autonomy and control over the delivery of education services, subject to provincial curriculum and testing standards.
7. Maintain current funding arrangements for independent schools.
8. Give school boards multi-year funding envelopes to improve long-term education planning/budgeting.
9. Eliminate PST on basic school supplies purchased by Parent Advisory Councils, which volunteer their time and effort to raise money for public schools.
10. Guarantee that parents of students attending schools are entitled to volunteer their services, provided it does not result in the displacement of existing staff services.
11. Improve school accreditations.

Appendix D: Key Projects Achieved (June 25, 2001 letter from the Premier)

1. Clearly define the role of the provincial Ministry of Education, including the current governance model and role of interest groups and make recommendations.
2. Examine opportunities for providing increased flexibility and choice in public schooling.
3. Develop an understandable, transparent, comprehensive population-based funding formula for school districts and independent schools.
4. Develop accountability contracts with school districts, including reporting of outcomes.

Appendix E: Detailed Grad Transitions

Appendix F: Detailed National and International Assessment Results

SAIP Writing 2002

SAIP Reading and Writing 1998

Reading 1998

Writing 1998

SAIP Mathematics 1997 and 2001

Content 2001

Problem Solving 2001

SAIP Science 1999

BC's standing in International Assessments

Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1999

Grade 8 students

Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2000

15 year-old students

Note: Ranges are determined by including in a range all those jurisdictions the results for which the confidence intervals overlap. If the confidence intervals do not overlap, the results are considered statistically different.