The Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia has released a progress audit on the Ministry of Education’s changes since the office’s 2015 report on the education of Aboriginal students in the B.C. public school system.

The original 2015 audit found there were gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in reading, writing and math assessments; in graduation rates; and in how safe they feel in school. These are strong indicators of a student’s future well-being. In 2015, the office made 12 recommendations to assist the ministry in closing the gaps. This progress audit found the gaps have gotten smaller but are still substantial.

In 2015, the graduation rate for Indigenous students was 24% lower than for non-Indigenous students. The gap is now at 16%. While there has been improvement, there is still more to do. Today’s progress audit shows that the Ministry of Education has taken action to address many of the original recommendations. It implemented a new curriculum to teach all B.C. students about Indigenous culture and history, and introduced a program, called Equity in Action, to guide districts through an intensive process to identify barriers to Indigenous student success. The ministry hired a director of Indigenous analytics to improve how it uses data to focus on the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.

The ministry still has work to do in areas such as developing an Indigenous education strategy, ensuring important data around student success is collected and reporting publicly on its progress.

https://www.bcauditor.com/sites/default/files/publications/reports/OAGBC_Ab-Ed-Progress_RPT.pdf