Busy tutors, lagging diploma exam results suggest Fort McMurray students are struggling

Students in Fort McMurray underperformed on diploma exams during the last school year, according to annual education results reports from the public and Catholic school divisions.

In 2022-23, 80 per cent of Alberta students earned the "acceptable standard" of at least 50 per cent on diploma exams, but the percentages of students who did so in Fort McMurray's two biggest school divisions were lower.

Sixty-six per cent of diploma-exam-writing students in Fort McMurray Public Schools and 70 per cent in Fort McMurray Catholic Schools met that bar.

Both school divisions also had smaller shares of students earning 80 per cent or higher on diploma exams, compared to the 21 per cent of Alberta students who achieved that "standard of excellence." 

"These results are concerning and require the results from each subject area to be analyzed in order to pinpoint the issues and then targeted supports put in place," the report from the public school division says. 

The report from the Catholic school division notes that while achievement levels continue to be lower than provincial numbers, there has been some improvement since the previous year.

Less than half of Fort McMurray public school students who wrote the Mathematics 30-1 exam earned more than 50 percent, compared to 71 per cent of Alberta students.

And only about a quarter of Fort McMurray public school students earned the acceptable standard on the Mathematics 30-2 exam, compared to 71 per cent of Alberta students.

"It is clear that numeracy and math skills are significantly weaker than is acceptable," the report from the public school division says. 

Results for both math courses have declined over the last five years.

Students in Fort McMurray public schools performed well on the French Language Arts 30-1 exam, but the percentages of students achieving acceptable scores were below the provincial numbers for other exams.

The Catholic school division's report says the results on the Science 30 and French Language Arts 30 exams were "of particular concern," requiring "a more focused and immediate strategy."

Less than half of students in that division earned an acceptable score on the French Language Arts 30 diploma exam, compared to 93 per cent of Alberta students. And 55 per cent of students earned the acceptable standard on the Science 30 exam, compared to 79 per cent of Alberta students.

Province-wide, the number of students earning the acceptable standard on diploma exams rose from 75 per cent in 2021-22 to 80 per cent in the last school year.