The Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, today presented some figures which are meant to be reassuring, but nevertheless relative, about the results of secondary school students.
In order to draw up a portrait of the situation of learning achieved by students during a pandemic period, the Ministry of Education therefore analyzed a representative sample of the results of the first report card.
This analysis confirms that the increase in the failure rate since the beginning of the school year is not as large as that which was apprehended, the rates remaining relatively stable compared to those of the previous year.
« However, we should not minimize the special cases and we know that the situation remains difficult for the students. », He clarified.
The collection of information from the school network enabled the Ministry to collect the success rates in language of instruction and in mathematics (reasoning) for third and sixth year elementary students, as well as for all of the students. secondary levels. The pass rates in science (theory) and history for Secondary IV were also compiled and analyzed.
A total of 198 public schools and 16 schools in the private network participated in the data collection. The results obtained were compared with the report card for the 2019-2020 school year submitted in February 2020 to determine whether the exceptional learning circumstances had an effect on student success.
The results are as follows:
– At the elementary level, the results of the first report card 2020-2021 are similar to those obtained last year, both in language of instruction (French / English) and in mathematics.
– In Secondary 1, an increase in the success rate was observed in mathematics (+ 3.1%) between the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years.
– In Secondary 3, a drop in the success rate was observed in mathematics (-3.0%) and in Secondary 4 (-4.2%) between the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years.
– Secondary 3 is the year showing the highest failure rates in writing and mathematics, both last year and this year.
– The results of Secondary 3, 4 and 5 do not show any significant deviations from other levels, possibly confirming that work-linked learning does not lead to an increase in the failure rate.
– Unlike the other levels, Secondary 1 students improved their success rate this year in writing and mathematics compared to last year.
– Writing in secondary 4, mathematics in secondary 2 and 5 as well as history in secondary 4 are the subjects that have remained the most stable (variation in the success rate of less than 1% compared to last year ).
New ballot balance
In order to better support student perseverance in the current economic climate, the government has made a further adjustment to the Basic school regulation for the 2020-2021 school year. You should know that the last step usually counts for 60%.
Exceptionally, this year, for preschool, elementary and secondary students, the first stage will count for 35% of the final mark, while the second will be weighted at 65%.
This should allow students who have experienced greater difficulties during the first months of the year to increase their chances of success and to continue their journey to the next level.
Tutoring program
The Prime Minister is also counting on a strategy of educational mutual aid and well-being at school to promote academic success, in particular by setting up a tutoring program.
« The tutoring program is very important, because even if the results are encouraging, the community has been strongly affected by the pandemic. We gave financial resources and presented available teacher banks. Now it’s up to schools to determine who are the students who need it most and in which field of study. », He explained.
Finally, Jean-François Roberge clarified that the epidemiological situation was still too intense among the students to be able to afford to reduce the health measures in place, in particular the work-study school.
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