School rankings released

Carmen Weld - Apr 3, 2016 / 3:21 pm | Story: 162287

Photo: Fraser Institute

The Fraser Institute has released its anticipated and controversial report card for schools across the province, and no Okanagan school even broke the top 40.

The top school in the Okanagan was Holy Cross Elementary in Penticton, an independent school. It came in 47th on the elementary school list when rated with schools across the province.

In fact, according to the report, 80 per cent of the top 100 ranked schools are independent schools.

On average, independent schools achieved a rating of 8.2 (out of 10) while public schools averaged just 5.6.

Half a dozen schools tied at number one in the province, earning a 10 out of 10 in the last five years.

All six schools are independent or private schools in the Lower Mainland.

The Fraser Institute, a right-wing think tank, published its annual British Columbia school rankings on Sunday that claims to show how schools have performed academically, and which schools across the province have improved or fallen behind.

The ‘report card’ ranks 944 public and independent elementary schools based on 10 'academic indicators' derived from the province-wide Foundation Skills Assessments results.

“Our report card is the only objective, reliable tool that parents have to compare the academic performance of their child’s school over time and to that of other schools in their community,” says Peter Cowley, Fraser Institute director of school performance studies

According to the rankings, 50 schools across the province showed significant improvement over the past five years.

Of the 50 schools that did show significant improvement, 45 are public schools.

“When parents see the report card’s objective evidence that a school’s results are consistently low or declining, they often become very effective advocates for improvement,” says Cowley.

“Every year, every school in the province must find ways to improve student results— it’s as simple as that.”

Kelowna’s Aberdeen Hall was the best-ranked school in the Central Okanagan coming in at 52nd, while Springvalley Elementary ranked the worst coming at 883rd out of 944.

Vernon Christian School got top nod in the Vernon school district taking 96th spot out of 944 schools, while Alexis Park Elementary received the worst ranking in the city at 747th school in the province.

As mentioned, Penticton’s Holy Cross Elementary ranked well coming in at 47th in the Okanagan-Skaha district, while Carmi Elementary did the worst in the city coming in at 847th.

Despite the buzz over the rankings, the BC Teacher’s Federation doesn’t take the rankings seriously – as per their social media response seen below that was posted today.

You can check out the full list and all the rankings here.