Private schools rank in high controversial report card
The controversial Fraser Institute secondary school report released Monday found the same 10 schools — all private — at the top of the list again this year.
But 26 schools in B. C. ( out of more than 280) have shown academic improvement over the past year, the report says. The institute tracks seven indicators using data from mandatory provincewide exams administered by the B. C. Ministry of Education, as well as graduation and grade- to- grade transition rates, to prepare its annual report on secondary schools.
“Our report card consistently shows that school improvement is occurring all over B. C., from Prince George in the North to Grand Forks in the south and everywhere in between,” said Peter Cowley, Fraser Institute director of school performance studies.
The institute’s reports are controversial. They are based on academic exam results and ignore other programs that might be provided by a secondary school, such as music or athletics.
Cowley acknowledges that the report is based on academic achievement only and would benefit from more information, such as healthy living measures, diversity measures or social responsibility measures. However, he said, objective, comparable information that is annually generated on those topics is not available.
Critics say the Fraser Institute report card is too narrowly focused and gives too much advantage to independent schools, which decide who can attend.
“The formula used to rank schools inherently favours schools with competitive admissions standards, while penalizing schools working with students achieving at a variety of levels,” said Daniel Laitsch, Simon Fraser University associate education professor.
Cowley said the schools that showed improvement include 21 public schools and five private schools. As well as academic indicators, the report includes information about parents’ incomes, and the percentage of English as a Second Language students and special- needs students, although these figures do not factor into the school’s ranking out of 10.
Outgoing B. C. Teachers’ Federation president Susan Lambert said the report card is a good indicator only of a students’ socio- economic status.
“There has been lots of reliable research that ( children from) stable, healthy families who support their children with books and experiences and take them to the Science Centre or the Aquarium and read to them at night obviously have a head start in life,” Lambert said. “If you are in an impoverished home that maybe is characterized by addiction or domestic violence … so you don’t have access to the books or the experiences, you come to school with a strike against you.”
Cowley said only 20 to 30 per cent of the difference in rating between schools is associated with differences in parental income.
“That leaves up to 80 per cent of the differences between schools that can’t be associated with parental income,” Cowley said. “Parental income is not a very strong predictor of how schools are going to fare, unless you look at the top 20. You can look at the top 20, but most people aren’t going there.”
Cowley said the Fraser Institute school reports are very popular and that the websites get about 1.6 million unique visitors each year.
The Fraser Institute report card for elementary schools uses results from Foundation Skills Assessment ( FSA) tests, standardized tests opposed by the BCTF.
In April, the B. C. School Trustees’ Association called for random FSA testing of elementary school students, instead of universal testing.
Teresa Rezansoff, president of the trustees association, said the trustees take issue with the narrow focus of the Fraser Institute report.
“The rankings don’t tell the whole story,” Rezansoff said in an interview. “There is so much rich context in schools that goes beyond what is included to make up the rankings.”