Initiatives, Projects and Reviews

High School Completion in Alberta

Finishing high school is an important step for young people to create a positive future for themselves, their families and their communities. Alberta's future prosperity rests on our ability to generate a well-educated workforce that is responsive to change. Among the key priorities of our province's education system is to ensure all of our students are successful - both in school and in life.

A strategy to increase Alberta’s high school completion rates is a priority for Alberta Education and is linked to the Minister’s Mandate letter from the Premier. While Alberta's high school completion rates are steadily increasing, the active involvement of parents, businesses, local communities and youth is needed to reach the province's goal of ensuring 82% of students complete high school within five years of starting Grade 10.

Alberta’s High School Completion Framework

News release: Province aims to boost high school completion rates

A high school diploma provides a strong foundation of knowledge and skills that are essential to career success, further study and in life.

But not every student completes high school and the decision to leave school early can result from a number of factors. Keeping kids engaged and motivated to finish high school requires a number of approaches and a great deal of collaboration. The Alberta High School Completion Framework addresses the challenges students face in finishing high school and helps ensure all students are given the opportunity to succeed.

Five Strategies

The Alberta High School Completion Framework supports work fitting under five strategies: personalized learning, successful transitions, collaborative partnerships, positive connections and tracking progress.

About Alberta's high school completion rates

Alberta's completion rates have been steadily increasing and sits at 79.5% of students completing high school within five years of starting Grade 10. The Alberta government wants to see this increase to 82% by 2012.

Programs and services available to help youth stay in school

There has been significant work at the school jurisdiction level to increase completion rates, such as Alberta's Bullying Prevention Strategy and Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI). There are a wide variety of programs and services available to help keep youth in school, such as outreach programs for junior and senior high school students. There are also many examples of school jurisdictions, families and communities working together to support youth in their area.

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