Issue link: https://takingitglobal.uberflip.com/i/1542824
R. Adeboye, C. Flewelling,V. Ogbole, E. O'Sullivan 34 performance and ultimately non-completion. The 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey provides particularly relevant support, showing that respondents who had completed high school were more likely to report having had better grades and were less likely to report having repeated a grade than respondents who had not completed high school (Bougie et al., 2013). Student retention is the final medium-term outcome preceding graduation in the Program Theory outcomes chain. While conceptually distinct - with retention reflecting sustained, year-over-year persistence in schooling and graduation representing the successful culmination of that persistence - the two are inherently connected. As such, it is not analytically meaningful to seek a separate causal relationship between retention and graduation. Rather, the value of focusing on year-over-year retention lies in highlighting that disengagement and dropout can occur relatively early in a student's educational trajectory, and that successfully returning to school and ultimately graduating can be challenging. Available evidence illustrates both the potential for re-engagement and the challenges associated with interrupted schooling. The First Nations Information Governance Centre (2016) reported that nearly three-quarters of First Nations youth who dropped out eventually returned to school. Similarly, O'Donnell and Arriagada (2019) found that 22% of Indigenous adults aged 25 and over living off reserve who had no high school qualifications and 53% of those who completed a high school equivalency or upgrading program, or obtained post secondary diploma or degree; underscoring that dropping out does not necessarily mark the end of an individual's educational pathway. At the same time, other research highlights the challenges of re-entry and the persistence of barriers to completion. Bougie et al. (2013) documented patterns of repeated dropout, noting that while the majority of leavers dropped out once, many dropped out multiple times. Similarly, Raymond's (2008) analysis of Canadian returnees found that nearly 40% left school again without obtaining a credential. Together, this evidence highlights the ongoing challenges students face not only in returning to school, but in sustaining their participation through to completion—reinforcing the importance of continued support for student retention as a critical pathway to graduation. The Teachers' Outcomes Chain Teacher confidence and feelings of being supported can be credibly linked to teacher retention The Program Theory posits that participating in Connected North should make teachers feel more confident and supported; and that this medium-term outcome should contribute to improved teacher performance and retention, which should in turn support student outcomes. The evaluation benefitted from Zee and Koomen's Teacher Self-Efficacy and Its Effects on Classroom Processes, Student Academic Adjustment, and Teacher Well-Being: A Synthesis of 40 Years of Research (2016). Teacher self-efficacy is broadly analogous to the idea of teacher confidence, and the authors concluded that "Irrespective of pre- or in-service context, grade level, and country, and potentially over time, self-efficacious teachers may suffer less from stress, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and overall burnout, and experience higher levels of personal accomplishment, commitment, and job satisfaction" (Zee and Koomen, 2016, p. 1007). They also noted that, while teacher self-efficacy was not directly linked to teacher