Photo: Contributed

Private schools in B.C. continue to perform better than public schools, according to the annual elementary school report card published by the Fraser Institute.

The Fraser Institute releases separate reports each year on the performance of elementary and high schools based on test scores for reading, writing and numeracy.

The reports are widely panned by teachers associations and school administrators as not accurately reflecting students or schools, and potentially being harmful.

However, Peter Cowley, director of school performance studies at the Fraser Institute, argues the report "provides parents with information they can't easily get anywhere else about how their child's school is performing over time, and compared to other schools across the province."

This year's elementary school report card ranks all 946 elementary schools across the province, with private schools taking 80 of the top 102 spots. Twenty-one schools recorded perfect scores of 10 out of 10.

Our Lady of Lourdes, a private school in West Kelowna, had the top score of any school in the Okanagan, a 9.3, placing it 38th in the province.

Aberdeen Hall and St. Joseph, both in Kelowna, had a score of 8.1, sharing 110th place.

The top school in Penticton is Holy Cross with a score of 7.8 (132nd) while Vernon top rated elementary school is Vernon Christian with a 7.7 score (144th).

The top rated public school in the Okanagan is Kaleden elementary. It came in 180th with a 7.4 score.

While the report looks at yearly numbers, it also tracks improvement year-over-year, and Cowley says those numbers show 16 of the fastest-improving schools are public schools.

Parkview in Sicamous has shown the biggest five-year improvement, going from 2.8 to 6.6, however, it did fall from 7.4 in 2016.

For the complete results on all ranked schools, and to compare their performance, visit www.compareschoolrankings.org.

The high school report will come out later this spring.