Advocacy: Request to Revise the Post-Secondary Institute Transition Rate Criteria to Include Students Enrolled in BC Public School Districts

Good day, Minister,

Subject: Request to revise the Post-Secondary Institute Transition Rate criteria to include
students enrolled in BC public school districts

The British Columbia School Trustees Association is a champion of good governance practices
among school boards, providing exceptional professional development and working with
partners to ensure the success of every student across British Columbia. As the sole
nonpartisan organization representing democratically and locally elected boards of education,
BCSTA has been a steadfast champion for good governance in public education for 120 years.

We were grateful that you were able to join us at BCSTA AGM 2025 in April of this year. During
the business portion of our event, members passed a motion requesting that the Ministry of
Education and Child Care revise the Post-Secondary Institute Transition Rate criteria to include
students enrolled in BC public school districts’ “Train in Trades” programs and students
transitioning to private training institutions or post-secondary institutions outside of British
Columbia.

As you are aware, the Ministry of Education and Child Care has established the Post-Secondary
Institute (PSI) Transition Rate as a measure of student success. Districts are required to report
the PSI through the Framework for Enhancing Student Learning Report (FESL). However, the
PSI Transition Rate is limited to BC public post-secondary institutions, excluding students
transitioning to post-secondary institutions outside of British Columbia, private training
institutions, and students in dual-credit programs.

To provide a real-world example of this issue, the Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows School District
released this information on page 25 as part of their 2025 FESL.

“As a school district, we have a very healthy Train in Trades program. In the 2022/23 school
year, a total of 139 SD42 Grade 12 students were concurrently enrolled in first-year postsecondary
trades programs. It has been confirmed with the Ministry of Education and Child
Care that the Grade 12 Train in Trades students are not included in the district’s PSI transition
data. Based on the 2022/23 subgroup size of 1,198 for all Grade 12 students eligible for
graduation, our trades students represent 11.6% of the graduation class missing from this
annual PSI transition data.”

By implementing the requested change, post-secondary transition rates can more accurately
reflect the diversity of our communities and students’ educational journeys.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Tracy Loffler
President
British Columbia School Trustees Association