The GNWT has released their Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 Education System Performance Measures Technical Report for the 2021-22 school year.
This annual report goes over the state of education in the NWT, and provides important information for the improvement of the system, and to address the needs of students.
This year’s report found some promising trends for the territory. Since Junior Kindergarten was introduced territory-wide in the 2017-18 school year, the GNWT is seeing that students who attend JK are consistently more likely to be prepared for Grade 1. The beneficial effects of JK will hopefully continue to show in the coming years as those students get older.
The number of educators in the NWT has steadily increased over the last two years as well, which could be attributed to an increase in third-party funding, such as Jordan’s Principle and the Inuit Child First Initiative.
The report has also found that there is a higher percentage of students are scoring “acceptable” or higher on language and social studies diploma exams than on math and science diploma exams. The results of Alberta Achievement Tests are similar, which could point to a need for an increased focus on math and science in NWT schools.
Attendance rates have seen a decline, which is expected to be a side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is believed that as the school system becomes better at reflecting all cultures of the NWT, attendance rates will start rising again.
The latest report also includes data on school closures related to the pandemic, so the GNWT and education bodies can monitor the potential impacts and ensure programs and services are meeting students and families’ needs. Beginning with the 2022-23 report, this indicator will reflect all unplanned school closures, including those related to wildfires, flooding, infrastructure issues, etc.
