Grade 12 students break even on exams marks are below average on three of six subjects By Chris Woodall Howe Sound Grade 12 students are above the provincial average when it comes to counting biological species in French. But average exam results released March 12, by the Howe Sound School District #48 also show that our Grade 12 students aren't as good as the provincial average when it comes to talking in English about the history of geographic formations. The school board, however, thinks this is fine. "Once again, Grade 12 students in School District No. 48 (Howe Sound) did very well on the provincial examination results," says CEO and superintendent Doug Courtice in the press release. "Congratulations to students and staff on a job well done." "Very well," however, seems to mean a mere passing grade is okay. Statistics provided in the school board press release show that Howe Sound students did better than the provincial average in only three of six courses: biology (Howe Sound 73.2% versus the B.C. average of 70.41%), French (80.2% vs. B.C.'s 75.77%, and math (73.57% vs. B.C.'s 70.06%). Howe Sound Grade 12s did worse than the provincial average in the remaining three subjects: English (marginally worse at 69.52% vs. B.C.'s 69.66%), geography (64.8% vs. B.C.'s 69.6%), and history (67.96% vs. B.C.'s 70.05%. To play the numbers game further, if you add up the differences between the B.C. and Howe Sound averages — better or worse — then Howe Sound students come out on top by an aggregate 3.7 score. In terms of letter grades, Howe Sound Grade 12s got one A, two Bs, and three Cs. British Columbia students on average got four Bs and two Cs.
