Results and Graduation Rates
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RESULTS ON THE JUNE 1996 UNIFORM MINISTRY EXAMINATIONS BY SCHOOL BOARD AND PRIVATE SCHOOL AND GRADUATION RATES BY SCHOOL BOARD Quebec RESULTS ON THE JUNE 1996 UNIFORM MINISTRY EXAMINATIONS BY SCHOOL BOARD AND PRIVATE SCHOOL AND GRADUATION RATES BY SCHOOL BOARD Ministère de l´Éducation Direction de la sanction des études This report has been prepared with the cooperation of the Direction des statistiques et des études quantitatives of the Direction générale des ressources informationnelles. Gouvernement du Québec Ministère de l’Éducation, 1997 – 96-1023 ISBN 2-550-31216-3 Legal Deposit - Bibliothèque nationale du Québec, 1997 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES INTRODUCTION ..........................................................1 PART I 1. ORGANIZATION OF THE EXAMINATION SESSION .......................5 1.1 Coordination ...................................................5 1.2 Certification Requirements .........................................5 1.3 Preparation of Uniform Examinations .................................6 1.4 Administration of Examinations .....................................6 1.5 Correction of Examinations ........................................7 1.6 Processing of Results .............................................7 1.7 Diffusion of Results ..............................................8 PART II 2. EXAMINATION RESULTS ............................................11 2.1 Overview .....................................................11 2.2 Results by Educational Institution and Administrative Region ..............14 PART III 3. GRADUATION RATES BY SCHOOL BOARD AND ADMINISTRATIVE REGION ..........................................71 APPENDICES LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1 Examination Sessions, 1992 to 1996 ...........................12 TABLE 2 Examination Results According to Certain Variables, 1992 to 1996 ...12 TABLE 3 Uniform Examination Results, by Administrative Region, Public and Private School Systems, June 1996 ...................13 TABLE 4 Overall Results (Average Mark and Success Rate) for Each Examination, Public and Private School Systems, June 1996 ...................14 TABLE 5 Overall Results on the Uniform Ministry Examinations, by Educational Institution ...................................17 TABLE 6 Overall Results on the Uniform Ministry Examinations, French Sector, by Educational Institution ...................................31 TABLE 7 Overall Results on the Uniform Ministry Examinations, English Sector, by Educational Institution ...................................45 TABLE 8 Overall Results on the Uniform Ministry Examinations, Ranking of Educational Institutions by Success Rate ...............51 TABLE 9 Graduation Rates by Cohort, Observation Period and Sex, by Administrative Region (Public School System) .................73 INTRODUCTION For several years, the ministère de l'Éducation has been publishing a statistical report on the results on the June uniform ministry examinations and on graduation rates. This information reflects the Ministère's desire to facilitate access to information that is of the public domain. This year, the report, which is also available on the Internet, combines the results for both the public and private school systems in one document. To make it easier to locate information, educational institutions are listed in alphabetical order for each administrative region. The document is divided into three sections: organization of the examination session, results on the uniform examinations, and graduation rates by school board and by administrative region. The results are presented for the examinations as a whole, by language of instruction and by ranking of educational institution for each uniform examination. This year, the section covering graduation rates contains only one indicator (instead of two) presented in table form: graduation rates by cohort, observation period and sex. Additional information on the results on uniform examinations and graduation rates are available at the Ministère's Web site (see Appendix 1). This information document is intended for educational institutions and the general public with a view to allowing: • school boards and private schools access to information that they can use to evaluate their educational practices, to compare their effectiveness over time, to identify their strengths and weaknesses, and to compare their performance with that of other educational institutions; • the general public access to official Ministère information. 1 PART I 1. ORGANIZATION OF THE EXAMINATION SESSION 1.1 Coordination One of the responsibilities of the Direction de la sanction des études involves defining and applying rules regarding the certification of studies in general education. Consequently, one of its activities includes coordinating the administration of uniform examinations, the correction of the examinations and the publication of the results. 1.2 Certification Requirements Certification requirements are determined by regulation in section 69 of the Basic school regulation for secondary school education. The annual Directives specify the current certification requirements. Thus, students participating in the June 1996 examination session were subject to the terms of the transitional certification system, which stipulates that they must have: a) accumulated a minimum of 130 credits (one credit corresponds to approximately 25 hours of learning activities) over the first five years of their secondary school studies; b) out of these 130 credits, earned at least 20 Secondary V or vocational education credits; c) obtained 60 percent or more in each of the following subjects: – Secondary IV and Secondary V language of instruction – Secondary IV or Secondary V second language (French sector), OR Secondary V second language (English sector) – Secondary IV history of Québec and Canada – Secondary IV or Secondary V moral education or Catholic religious and moral instruction or Protestant moral and religious education 5 1.3 Preparation of Uniform Examinations In Québec, the responsibility for preparing examinations for the certification of studies is shared by the Ministère and the school boards and private schools. Each year, the Ministère selects a certain number of subjects for which it will prepare uniform examinations. Evaluation in the other subjects is the responsibility of school boards and private schools. The uniform examinations are summative examinations used for evaluation purposes in subjects that are compulsory for the certification of studies or the recognition of prerequisites for certain college programs. The following are some of the characteristics of the uniform examinations that are used to certify secondary school studies: • The examinations are prepared by teachers and educational consultants in the English and French sectors of the education system. Every year, many people partake in a process to develop uniform examinations and the Ministère coordinates the entire operation. • These examinations are not field-tested prior to being administered to students in Québec schools; however, this does not preclude the field-testing of certain items that appear more problematic. A new examination is developed for each subject and each examination session. The Ministère strives to develop examinations that are comparable from one session to another. 1.4 Administration of Examinations Every year, the Ministère publishes an official timetable for the examination sessions. Educational institutions must respect this timetable in full: school boards and private schools may not hold a uniform examination at any other date than the one indicated in the official timetable. Educational institutions are responsible for administering the examinations and must provide the required premises and supervisory personnel. The Ministère provides the examination materials. 6 1.5 Correction of Examinations Uniform examinations may contain a certain number of multiple-choice items and a certain number of constructed-response items. The multiple-choice items are corrected by the Ministère and the constructed-response items, by the educational institution. The French, language of instruction, examination (with the exception of the French writing examination) and the English Language Arts examination are corrected in full by the educational institutions in accordance with the Ministère's instructions. 1.6 Processing of Results For the reasons specified below, the Ministère may use two procedures called conversion and moderation, which can affect examination results. However, under no circumstances does the Ministère normalize results in the statistical sense of the word. If it were to do so, it would have to change the raw scores for each of the examinations so that the distribution of the scores would follow a normal (bell-shaped) curve. Conversion To ensure that the examinations are fair, the Ministère endeavours to prepare examinations of comparable difficulty from one year to the next. It is important to remember, however, that these examinations are not field-tested. Despite the customary precautions taken during the development of the examinations, abnormally high failure rates may occur. In this case, the Ministère may either take corrective measures—for example, by removing a poorly worded question—or it may convert the results. Conversion is a procedure that involves raising all the scores of an examination slightly, thereby lowering the failure rate. In this respect, the first paragraph of section 470 of the Education Act stipulates that, "The Minister