Ontario’s high school graduation rate keeps climbing, with 115,500 students — or 77 per cent — earning their diploma last year, education ministry figures to be released today show.
That’s up slightly from 75 per cent in the 2006-07 school year, and nine percentage points higher than 2003, when the Liberals took office and said the province was facing a record number of dropouts.
The government’s goal is to get 85 per cent of students graduating by 2010-11, using a number of new programs to help keep students interested and engaged in school.
Ontario’s graduation rate plummeted after the curriculum was revamped and the fifth year eliminated. A study out of Queen’s University said the new four-year program was too hard for those not planning on university.
