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Act now, before more kids quit school

“Far too many children are not making it, or are struggling to make it, past Grade 9”

SARA MINOGUE

Kids in Iqaluit don’t drop out of school faster than kids in other parts of Canada because they’re bad kids, but because there is a lack of early intervention programs, a shortage of remedial programs and little funding for the programs that do exist to help students who struggle to keep up.

These are just some of the gaps in Iqaluit’s school system that are identified in the latest research report by the Iqaluit District Education Authority, called A status report on students at risk in Iqaluit schools.

“On average, 25 per cent of our children in any given grade in our schools are not performing at grade level,” the report said. “There are insufficient resources to help these students, thus compounding the risk each year of losing these students from our school system.

“Far too many children are also not making it, or are struggling to make it, past Grade 9.”

The kids who fall behind in class, and aren’t able to keep up academically, are identified as “at risk” of dropping out of school in the report, which builds a strong case for providing more resources to keep these kids in the education system.

“For some reason the issue of struggling kids in our schools is not getting attention,” said Katherine Trumper at a Monday night meeting of the IDEA.

“This was not a surprise to anyone working in the school system, but remarkably, in the 2006-2007 business plan for the Department of Education, there is not one mention of at-risk kids in the priorities section,” she said.

The report says at-risk students are not getting basic assessment services that would help teachers understand what they need, including occupational therapy, physiotherapy, language and speech therapy.

“We consistently heard that what is most needed is ready access to an educational psychologist for early diagnosis of, and intervention with, learning disabilities,” the report says.

Specialized programs that help struggling students – such as land programs or hands-on training programs – are not core-funded. That means teachers who run these programs must spend time applying for grants, which are not guaranteed, or are only guaranteed for a short period of time.

Finding money was made more difficult about four years ago, when city council informed school staff that they would no longer consider school programming, or after-school activities, when making grants from the Brighter Futures and Community Wellness Initiatives, the report said.

Yet the number of kids who could benefit from programs that don’t focus on academics is large.

A previous draft of the report showed that 13 per cent of kindergarten students came to school without the skills expected at their age. The number rises to 22 per cent of Grade 1 students and peaks at 62 per cent of Grade 10 students.

The final version of the report refines the number of Grade 10 students who are behind to 40 per cent, and also points out that all of the numbers should be treated cautiously.

The data is based on the opinions of almost 100 teachers surveyed for the report, all of whom interpret “below grade level” in their own way.

Nunavut’s education department does not track the number of children who fall short of the skills they need in their grades, and Nunavut has recently opted out of national standardized tests designed to catch this information.

At the IDEA meeting, Trumper noted that, while the IDEA has not tackled the issue of standardized testing, this report illustrates the effect of not testing students against a national standard.

“There is a relationship, in my opinion, between the fact that students are not being [given standardized tests] and that resources are not available for remedial programs,” Trumper said.

The number of children who get remedial instruction when they fall behind varies widely. In same classes, teachers report that all of the students who need extra help are getting it. In other cases, none are. The availability of student support teachers and student support assistants appears to be a factor.

The new data in the report shows the number of children who are below grade level peaks in Grade 8, where about half of the students are struggling.

But those who struggle past Grade 8 and into Grades 9 and 10 often do so twice – before dropping out.

Iqaluit has 99 Grade 8 students, 105 Grade 9 students, 172 Grade 10 students, 66 Grade 11 students and just 41 Grade 12 students.

Iqaluit’s social problems also affect many students in Iqaluit’s schools, making the need for more counselors acute.

School principals call a social worker or RCMP officers when faced with cases of suspected child abuse or extreme violence. This happened 12 times in Iqaluit schools in the first five months of the current school year.

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