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High school dropout rates in Canada have plummeted, and students are nearly half as likely to leave school without a diploma than they were 20 years ago, according to a report by Statistics Canada.
The dropout rate fell to 8.5 per cent in 2009-2010 from 16.6 per cent in 1990-1991, according to the report released on Wednesday, which defined dropouts as people between the ages of 20 and 24 who had not completed high school and were not in school.
"Canadians are reacting to the changing realities around them ... the importance of education has been growing, and I would say that education departments have been trying to consistently improve their performance and target programs toward those who are at risk of not completing high school," said Andrew Parkin, director general of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada.
The recent recession helped seal the high school diploma's status as the minimum requirement for a living wage. In 2008-2009, the unemployment rate for high school dropouts was 21.3 per cent, compared to 10 per cent for high school graduates who weren't in school.
Dropouts also end up working more for less money, and in 2009-2010 they worked almost an hour more while earning $70 less a week than high school graduates.
Kaitlyn Tyson dropped out at the age of 16. After two years, she realized that she was going nowhere, that the work opportunities available to her meant long hours, little money and no promotions.
"I woke up and I realized that I needed to go back, that without your high school diploma, you can't do anything," she said.
She entered a program at the City Adult Learning Centre in Toronto tailored to students like her who'd rejected school once before. An accelerated credit program designed to make graduation look closer and more attainable helped Ms. Tyson stick high school out the second time around.
This fall, she started studying social work at Ryerson University.
"I never even imagined myself going to university," she said. "I'm so proud."
The programs aimed at keeping teens in school have taken different shapes in each of the provinces, where educational obstacles differ. In Alberta, where the economy is relatively strong and physical labour can still pay well, retention programs have targeted both students and employers.
"What we find sometimes in Alberta is the lure of the job in the oil patch that pays $25 an hour can be more interesting than staying in school," said Carolyn Stuparyk, a spokeswoman for Alberta Education.
The province has created career and technology study programs and worked in co-operation with local employers. These programs give students credit for their work experience, and open doors for them toward promotions and leadership positions.
In the past two decades, education has drifted away from one-size-fits-all approaches. Like Alberta, most provinces have expanded their co-op and apprenticeship programs in an effort to accommodate and retain students who want to work in manufacturing or trades. Many school boards have introduced schools with flexible hours and daycare centres to help pregnant teens and students with children.
"I've seen a lot of effort to look at the individualized learning needs of students and not treating every student the same," said Ms. Stuparyk.
The numbers are encouraging, but some problems linger. Dropout rates remain larger in the territories, and between 2007 and 2010, the average dropout rate for First Nations people living off-reserve was 22.6 per cent.
Also, most of the decline in the dropout happened in the 1990s, and Canada may be nearing a plateau. The most populous province, Ontario, has struggled to improve its four-year graduation rates since it eliminated Grade 13 nearly a decade ago, said Alan King, an education professor emeritus at Queens University.