Economic and Social Reports
Through a diverse needs lens: High school students working toward a Dogwood Diploma or an Evergreen Certificate in British Columbia
DOI: https://doi.org/10.25318/36280001202500100001-eng
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Abstract
This case study focuses on Grade 12 students aged 15 to 19 years in 2015/2016 in British Columbia, examining disparities in high school completion between students with and without disabilities and diverse abilities (DDAs). It looks particularly at those receiving a Dogwood Diploma (a certificate of graduation) or an Evergreen Certificate (a school completion certificate and not a graduation credential). Integrated administrative data from the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform were used to disaggregate the high school completion paths of students with DDAs among six DDA categories (autism spectrum disorder, behavioural disabilities or mental illness, intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and sensory disabilities) and compare them with those of students without DDAs. Results revealed that high school graduation disparities were larger than previously reported when considering students who were working toward an Evergreen Certificate. Students with DDAs (60%) were less likely to have graduated high school than students without DDAs (88%). The greatest disparities were observed among students with intellectual disabilities, who had the lowest high school graduation rate (6%) and, in turn, the highest likelihood of having received an Evergreen Certificate (51%). When accounting for sociodemographic factors, academic achievement played a crucial role in high school graduation, especially for students with behavioural disabilities or mental illness. This study highlights the importance of academic achievement for a successful high school completion path for all students—in particular for those with behavioural disabilities or mental illness—and the inclusion of students with DDAs on the Evergreen pathway to better understand high school completion paths of students with DDAs.
Authors
Allison Leanage and Rubab Arim are with the Social Analysis and Modelling Division, Analytical Studies and Modelling Branch, at Statistics Canada.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Marc Frenette, Laura Gibson, Meghan Dale, Katherine Wall and Max Stick for their comments on an initial version.
Introduction
Since 2007, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, for which Canada is a signatory, has recognized that every child has a right to education, affirming that inclusive education is a fundamental right for children with disabilities (Article 24—Education). While inclusive education is emphasized across Canadian provinces and territories, its implementation varies widely because of differences in educational policies (Kohen et al., 2006). In British Columbia, students with disabilities and diverse abilities (DDAs)Note can earn the Certificate of Graduation (Dogwood Diploma) or receive the School Completion Certificate (Evergreen Certificate) (Government of British Columbia, 2020). However, the Evergreen Certificate is not a graduation credential; it is used to recognize the completion of personal learning goals (Government of British Columbia, 2020). To date, several studies have aimed to improve understanding about the educational outcomes of students with DDAs in British Columbia and have shown that students with DDAs have lower high school graduation rates than students without DDAs (BC Stats, 2009), even after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and academic achievement (Leanage & Arim, 2024a).
However, these studies excluded students with DDAs working toward an Evergreen Certificate, possibly because the Evergreen Certificate does not represent graduation. Also, this information was not available to researchers in the 2021 dataset in the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform at Statistics Canada (see Appendix for information about the data). Thus, using a previous (2018) dataset, the main objective of this follow-up study is to extend Leanage and Arim’s (2024a) work by exploring the disparities in high school completion, including the Evergreen path, between students with and without DDAs, allowing for a more complete picture of the diverse paths students with DDAs may take. This case study focuses on the 2015/2016 Grade 12 cohortNote Note in British Columbia (N = 46,462) and distinguishes between students who obtained a Dogwood Diploma (hereinafter referred to as “graduated high school”) and those who received a School Completion Certificate (hereinafter referred to as “received an Evergreen Certificate”) by DDA status. This study further disaggregates and examines students with DDAs graduating high school or receiving an Evergreen Certificate among six DDA categories (autism spectrum disorder [ASD], behavioural disabilities or mental illness, intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and sensory disabilities) (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2016), compared with those without DDAs.
Students with behavioural disabilities or mental illness, similar to students with intellectual disabilities, are at higher risk of not completing high school
Chart 1 presents the proportion of students who graduated high school or received an Evergreen Certificate by DDA status.Note Overall, about 84% of students graduated high school, about 2% received an Evergreen Certificate, and 14% neither graduated high school nor received an Evergreen Certificate. This pattern of results was largely driven by students without DDAs, as the figures were 59%, 12% and 29%, respectively, for students with DDAs. Just under 30% of students with DDAs neither graduated high school nor received an Evergreen Certificate, compared with 12% of students without DDAs.
Data table for Chart 1
| High school completion path | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Graduated high school | Received an Evergreen Certificate | Neither graduated high school nor received an Evergreen Certificate | |
| percent | |||
Source: Statistics Canada, British Columbia Ministry of Education kindergarten to Grade 12 dataset, 2015/2016. |
|||
| Total percentage | 84.1 | 1.6 | 14.2 |
| Disability and diverse ability status | |||
| Without disabilities and diverse abilities (reference category) | 87.5 | 0.2 | 12.4 |
| Disabilities and diverse abilities | 58.5 Data table for Chart 1 Note * | 12.3 Data table for Chart 1 Note * | 29.3 Data table for Chart 1 Note * |
| Disability and diverse ability categories | |||
| Autism spectrum disorder | 44.3 Data table for Chart 1 Note * | 19.1 Data table for Chart 1 Note * | 36.7 Data table for Chart 1 Note * |
| Behavioural disabilities or mental illness | 55.5 Data table for Chart 1 Note * | 2.2 Data table for Chart 1 Note * | 42.2 Data table for Chart 1 Note * |
| Intellectual disabilities | 6.3 Data table for Chart 1 Note * | 51.0 Data table for Chart 1 Note * | 42.7 Data table for Chart 1 Note * |
| Learning disabilities | 79.4 Data table for Chart 1 Note * | 2.5 Data table for Chart 1 Note * | 18.1 Data table for Chart 1 Note * |
| Physical disabilities | 38.0 Data table for Chart 1 Note * | 25.9 Data table for Chart 1 Note * | 36.1 Data table for Chart 1 Note * |
| Sensory disabilities | 71.4 Data table for Chart 1 Note * | x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act | x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act |
Further disaggregation of DDAs into six categories indicated variation in high school completion paths among students with DDAs. For example, while 79% of students with learning disabilities and 71% of those with sensory disabilities graduated high school, 6% of students with intellectual disabilities graduated, the lowest figure. However, just over half (51%) of students with intellectual disabilities received an Evergreen Certificate, and about 43% neither graduated high school nor received an Evergreen Certificate. By contrast, among students with behavioural disabilities or mental illness, just over 2% received an Evergreen Certificate and about 42% neither graduated high school nor received an Evergreen Certificate, a figure similar to that of students with intellectual disabilities. Although students with DDAs were less likely to have graduated high school and more likely to have received an Evergreen Certificate compared with students without DDAs, the differences varied greatly across DDA categories.
Academic achievement matters more than sociodemographic factors in understanding differences in high school completion paths
Chart 2 shows the results from the final model in a series of multinomial logit models (see Table 1).Note Note Results are presented as marginal effects, expressed as the percentage-point difference in the likelihood of an outcome associated with a specific DDA category compared with the reference category (i.e., students without DDAs). When considering sociodemographic characteristics (Model 2), there was relatively little change in the differences observed in Model 1. For example, differences between groups ranged from 8 percentage points (9 percentage points in Model 1) for students with learning disabilities to 78 percentage points (79 percentage points in Model 1) for students with intellectual disabilities in the likelihood of having graduated high school. As expected (see Frenette, 2007), controlling for academic achievement (i.e., Grade 10 course marks in English, mathematics and science [see Appendix]) (Model 3) played a critical role. In the final model (Model 3), students across all DDA groups remained less likely to have graduated high school compared with students without DDAs. However, differences were further reduced and ranged from about 2 percentage points for students with learning disabilities to about 30 percentage points for students with intellectual disabilities. Leanage and Arim (2024a) also reported a 2-percentage-point difference in graduating high school for students with learning disabilities. However, in their study, the gap was smaller, at 21 percentage points for students with intellectual disabilities, largely because students with intellectual disabilities who received an Evergreen Certificate were excluded. In a similar vein, the gap for students with ASD was about half (8 percentage points) of the difference (16 percentage points) observed in this study. These findings highlight the importance of including students who received an Evergreen Certificate in the study sample to better understand the differences in educational paths between students with and without DDAs.
Data table for Chart 2
| Graduated high school | Received an Evergreen Certificate | Neither graduated high school nor received an Evergreen Certificate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| partial effects (percentage points) | |||
| Notes: Differences accounted for sociodemographic characteristics and academic achievement (Model 3). All disability and diverse ability categories are significantly different from the reference category (i.e., without disabilities and diverse abilities) (p < 0.05).
Sources: Statistics Canada, British Columbia Ministry of Education kindergarten to Grade 12 dataset, 2015/2016, and T1 Family File dataset, 2012 to 2017. |
|||
| Autism spectrum disorder | -15.87 | 4.98 | 10.88 |
| Behavioural disabilities or mental illness | -13.52 | 1.95 | 11.56 |
| Intellectual disabilities | -29.40 | 8.05 | 21.35 |
| Learning disabilities | -1.92 | 3.15 | -1.23 |
| Physical disabilities | -14.28 | 6.32 | 7.97 |
| Sensory disabilities | -8.79 | 4.81 | 3.98 |
| Graduated high school | Received an Evergreen Certificate | Neither graduated high school nor received an Evergreen Certificate | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 | Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 | Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 | |
| partial effects (percentage points) | |||||||||
Sources: Statistics Canada, British Columbia Ministry of Education kindergarten to Grade 12 dataset, 2015/2016, and T1 Family File dataset, 2012 to 2017. |
|||||||||
| Disability and diverse ability categories | |||||||||
| Without disabilities or diverse abilities (reference category) | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable |
| Autism spectrum disorder | -0.443 Table 1 Note * | -0.404 Table 1 Note * | -0.159 Table 1 Note * | 0.240 Table 1 Note * | 0.223 Table 1 Note * | 0.050 Table 1 Note * | 0.203 Table 1 Note * | 0.181 Table 1 Note * | 0.109 Table 1 Note * |
| Behavioural disabilities or mental illness | -0.325 Table 1 Note * | -0.297 Table 1 Note * | -0.135 Table 1 Note * | 0.049 Table 1 Note * | 0.045 Table 1 Note * | 0.020 Table 1 Note * | 0.276 Table 1 Note * | 0.252 Table 1 Note * | 0.116 Table 1 Note * |
| Intellectual disabilities | -0.794 Table 1 Note * | -0.776 Table 1 Note * | -0.294 Table 1 Note * | 0.544 Table 1 Note * | 0.524 Table 1 Note * | 0.080 Table 1 Note * | 0.250 Table 1 Note * | 0.252 Table 1 Note * | 0.213 Table 1 Note * |
| Learning disabilities | -0.091 Table 1 Note * | -0.082 Table 1 Note * | -0.019 Table 1 Note * | 0.049 Table 1 Note * | 0.047 Table 1 Note * | 0.032 Table 1 Note * | 0.041 Table 1 Note * | 0.035 Table 1 Note * | -0.012 Table 1 Note * |
| Physical disabilities | -0.502 Table 1 Note * | -0.456 Table 1 Note * | -0.143 Table 1 Note * | 0.308 Table 1 Note * | 0.290 Table 1 Note * | 0.063 Table 1 Note * | 0.194 Table 1 Note * | 0.167 Table 1 Note * | 0.080 Table 1 Note * |
| Sensory disabilities | -0.187 Table 1 Note * | -0.180 Table 1 Note * | -0.088 Table 1 Note * | 0.119 Table 1 Note * | 0.112 Table 1 Note * | 0.048 Table 1 Note * | 0.068 | 0.068 | 0.040 |
| Sex | |||||||||
| Female | ... not applicable | 0.036 | 0.013 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | -0.001 | -0.001 | ... not applicable | -0.035 Table 1 Note * | -0.011 Table 1 Note * |
| Male (reference category) | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable |
| Age | |||||||||
| Age 18 or younger | ... not applicable | 0.269 | 0.100 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | -0.009 Table 1 Note * | 0.002 | ... not applicable | -0.260 Table 1 Note * | -0.102 Table 1 Note * |
| Age 19 (reference category) | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable |
| Parental income | |||||||||
| Less than $30,000 | ... not applicable | -0.127 Table 1 Note * | -0.059 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.004 | 0.000 | ... not applicable | 0.123 Table 1 Note * | 0.059 Table 1 Note * |
| $30,000 to $39,999 | ... not applicable | -0.094 Table 1 Note * | -0.046 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.002 | 0.000 | ... not applicable | 0.092 Table 1 Note * | 0.047 Table 1 Note * |
| $40,000 to $49,999 | ... not applicable | -0.050 Table 1 Note * | -0.016 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.001 | -0.001 | ... not applicable | 0.049 Table 1 Note * | 0.016 Table 1 Note * |
| $50,000 to $59,999 | ... not applicable | -0.037 Table 1 Note * | -0.017 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.001 | -0.001 | ... not applicable | 0.037 Table 1 Note * | 0.017 Table 1 Note * |
| $60,000 to $69,999 | ... not applicable | -0.029 Table 1 Note * | -0.015 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | -0.001 | -0.001 | ... not applicable | 0.030 Table 1 Note * | 0.016 Table 1 Note * |
| $70,000 to $79,999 | ... not applicable | -0.018 Table 1 Note * | -0.011 | ... not applicable | 0.002 | 0.002 | ... not applicable | 0.016 | 0.009 |
| $80,000 or more (reference category) | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable |
| Missing income | ... not applicable | -0.145 Table 1 Note * | -0.010 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.000 | -0.005 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.145 Table 1 Note * | 0.015 Table 1 Note * |
| Neighbourhood income | |||||||||
| Less than $30,000 | ... not applicable | -0.062 Table 1 Note * | -0.019 | ... not applicable | 0.022 | 0.010 | ... not applicable | 0.040 | 0.009 |
| $30,000 to $39,999 | ... not applicable | -0.116 Table 1 Note * | -0.002 | ... not applicable | 0.012 | 0.004 | ... not applicable | 0.105 Table 1 Note * | 0.002 |
| $40,000 to $49,999 | ... not applicable | -0.083 Table 1 Note * | -0.035 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.009 Table 1 Note * | 0.004 | ... not applicable | 0.074 Table 1 Note * | 0.031 Table 1 Note * |
| $50,000 to $59,999 | ... not applicable | -0.061 Table 1 Note * | -0.031 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.006 Table 1 Note * | 0.004 | ... not applicable | 0.055 Table 1 Note * | 0.027 Table 1 Note * |
| $60,000 to $69,999 | ... not applicable | -0.062 Table 1 Note * | -0.033 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.003 | 0.000 | ... not applicable | 0.059 Table 1 Note * | 0.033 Table 1 Note * |
| $70,000 to $79,999 | ... not applicable | -0.041 Table 1 Note * | -0.024 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.000 | 0.000 | ... not applicable | 0.040 | 0.024 Table 1 Note * |
| $80,000 or more (reference category) | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable |
| Missing income | ... not applicable | -0.833 | -0.654 | ... not applicable | 0.975 | 0.793 | ... not applicable | -0.142 | -0.139 |
| Economic region | |||||||||
| Lower Mainland–Southwest (reference category) | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable |
| Vancouver Island and Coast | ... not applicable | -0.042 Table 1 Note * | -0.036 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.001 | 0.002 | ... not applicable | 0.041 | 0.035 Table 1 Note * |
| Thompson–Okanagan | ... not applicable | 0.031 Table 1 Note * | 0.032 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.004 Table 1 Note * | 0.006 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | -0.035 Table 1 Note * | -0.038 Table 1 Note * |
| Kootenay | ... not applicable | -0.016 | -0.001 | ... not applicable | -0.004 | -0.004 | ... not applicable | 0.020 Table 1 Note * | 0.005 |
| Cariboo | ... not applicable | -0.057 Table 1 Note * | -0.020 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.006 | 0.004 | ... not applicable | 0.051 Table 1 Note * | 0.016 |
| North Coast | ... not applicable | -0.135 Table 1 Note * | -0.072 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.011 Table 1 Note * | 0.007 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.124 Table 1 Note * | 0.065 Table 1 Note * |
| Nechako | ... not applicable | -0.044 | -0.020 | ... not applicable | 0.006 | 0.007 | ... not applicable | 0.038 Table 1 Note * | 0.013 |
| Northeast | ... not applicable | -0.211 Table 1 Note * | -0.111 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | -0.010 Table 1 Note * | -0.011 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | 0.221 Table 1 Note * | 0.122 Table 1 Note * |
| Missing region | x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act | -0.007 | 0.027 | x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act | -0.020 | -0.020 | x suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act | 0.027 | -0.008 |
| Academic achievement | |||||||||
| English—Grade 10 | |||||||||
| English grade A | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.272 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.018 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.254 Table 1 Note * |
| English grade B | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.379 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.019 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.361 Table 1 Note * |
| English grade C | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.333 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.021 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.312 Table 1 Note * |
| English grade F (reference category) | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable |
| Missing English grade | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.112 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.001 | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.113 Table 1 Note * |
| Science—Grade 10 | |||||||||
| Science grade A | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.121 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.000 | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.121 Table 1 Note * |
| Science grade B | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.118 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.009 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.109 Table 1 Note * |
| Science grade C | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.094 | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.008 | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.086 Table 1 Note * |
| Science grade F (reference category) | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable |
| Missing science grade | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.033 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.004 | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.037 Table 1 Note * |
| Math—Grade 10 | |||||||||
| Math grade A | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.095 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.006 | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.088 Table 1 Note * |
| Math grade B | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.080 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.007 | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.074 Table 1 Note * |
| Math grade C | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.072Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.005 | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.067 Table 1 Note * |
| Math grade F (reference category) | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | ... not applicable |
| Missing math grade | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.029 Table 1 Note * | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | 0.001 | ... not applicable | ... not applicable | -0.030 Table 1 Note * |
Students with DDAs were more likely to have received an Evergreen Certificate (Model 1) compared with students without DDAs, with the largest difference observed for students with intellectual disabilities (54 percentage points), followed by those with physical disabilities (31 percentage points) and those with ASD (24 percentage points). After considering sociodemographic characteristics, these differences largely remained the same. When academic achievement was considered (Model 3), the differences became much smaller, ranging from 2 percentage points for students with behavioural disabilities or mental illness to 8 percentage points for students with intellectual disabilities. These results revealed that academic achievement matters in understanding differences in high school completion paths.
A similar pattern of results was observed among students who neither graduated high school nor received an Evergreen Certificate. Notably, the gap narrowed for students with behavioural disabilities or mental illness from 25 percentage points (Model 2) to 12 percentage points (Model 3). A similar reduction was observed for students with physical disabilities and those with ASD but not for those with intellectual disabilities. Altogether, these findings suggest that students with DDAs vary in their high school completion paths, and academic achievement may play a significant role in their paths.
Conclusion
A major strength of this study is the inclusion of students with DDAs who received an Evergreen Certificate to better understand their high school completion paths compared with students without DDAs. Disparities in graduating high school were larger than previously reported (Leanage & Arim, 2024a) when considering students who were on the Evergreen pathway. A cautionary remark should be made here when the focus is on high school graduation rates specifically: it is recommended to exclude students working toward an Evergreen Certificate because it is not a graduation credential. Yet, it is essential to consider this high school completion path separately for students with DDAs given its variation among them. Moreover, academic achievement mattered more than sociodemographic factors in understanding differences in high school completion paths—especially for students with behavioural disabilities or mental illness, whose risk of not completing high school was similar to that of students with intellectual disabilities. Notably, the risk of not completing high school was reduced at a larger rate when academic achievement was considered for students with behavioural disabilities or mental illness but not for those with intellectual disabilities. These results highlight the importance of academic achievement to successful high school completion for all students, particularly for those with behavioural disabilities or mental illness. Future research may focus on specific accommodation needs of students with DDAs to shed light on challenges and opportunities to support their academic achievement.
Start of text boxAppendix: Data
Using British Columbia Ministry of Education administrative data—the British Columbia kindergarten to Grade 12 (BC K–12) dataset—in the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform, this case study focuses on Grade 12 students aged 15 to 19 years in 2015/2016. This follow-up study examines the likelihood of graduating high school (i.e., obtaining a Dogwood Diploma), receiving an Evergreen Certificate, or neither graduating high school nor receiving an Evergreen Certificate between students with and without disabilities and diverse abilities (DDAs).
The 2018 BC K–12 dataset contains information on student enrolment in public and independent schools in British Columbia from 1991 onward, including students’ individual characteristics (e.g., sex, age and DDA status) and their progression throughout the British Columbia education system (e.g., Dogwood Diploma). The structure of the database includes students with one or multiple school records per year, as students may have taken distance classes in another school or changed schools. This study accounted for students with multiple records and used the term “authority school” to refer to the school that was most likely to be associated with the most complete record for the student for that year. The “standard” facility type was selected as the type of school and method of delivery.
The BC K–12 administrative data include 16 categories for the DDA variable (also known as the special needs variable). However, because of small sample sizes, the 16 categories were consolidated. Following the guidelines of the British Columbia Ministry of Education (2016) and previous research (Barnett & Gibson, 2021; Leanage & Arim, 2024b), based on the low sample size of these categories, the DDA variable was collapsed into the following six categories: autism spectrum disorder, behavioural disabilities or mental illness, intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and sensory disabilities (see Leanage and Arim [2024a] for more details). High school students in these categories were then compared with those without DDAs. As this case study examines students with various DDAs, it is important to acknowledge that students may have multiple DDAs simultaneously. In the BC K–12 dataset, students are assigned to a maximum of one category, and they may be assigned to a different category from one school year to the next. This study excluded students with gifted status as they all graduated high school. Also, given that the focus was students in the British Columbia school system from kindergarten to Grade 12, those who obtained an Adult Dogwood Diploma were also excluded, because these students combine credits earned at secondary and postsecondary schools.
Academic achievement was measured using Grade 10 course marks in English, mathematics and science. As students may complete multiple courses in these subjects, this study followed the methodology of Leanage and Arim (2024a; 2024b). The average grades were calculated for all courses taken in the same subject (e.g., all Grade 10 mathematics courses) then were converted into letter grades (i.e., “A,” “B” and “C,” including plus or minus grades such as “A+” and “C-,” and “F”) according to the British Columbia grading system (Government of British Columbia, n.d.). The economic region variable was constructed using the Postal Code Conversion File (Statistics Canada, 2021) to match the postal codes from the BC K–12 data to identify students’ economic region. Additionally, the BC K–12 administrative data were integrated with the T1 Family File to account for the parental income variable when a student was in Grade 10.
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