Grading BC's Schools
Contact:
Peter Cowley, Education Policy Researcher
The Fraser Institute, (604) 688-0221 Ext. 556 Email: peterc@fraserinstitute.caPatrick Basham, Director of the Social Affairs Centre
The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4549 Email: patrickb@fraserinstitute.caRelease Date: 25 March 1999
Vancouver, BC>>> The Fraser Institute today released the Secondary Schools Report Card for British Columbia 1999 as a follow-up to last year’s much-discussed Report Card. The study is the only one of its kind to combine relevant, publicly-available data to rate 262 of the province’s public and independent secondary schools.
"In spite of the misguided idea that only the system as a whole should be judged, we feel strongly that this report card is a much-needed tool in the effort to make our schools responsive to the needs of their students, and for parents interested in selecting the education provider best suited to their children’s needs," says Peter Cowley, the report card’s co-author.
The ratings are based on student results data provided by the BC Ministry of Education. For each school, five indicators of school performance are measured: (1) the average provincial examination mark; (2) the percentage of provincial examinations failed; (3) the difference between the average examination mark and the average school mark; (4) the graduation rate; and (5) the number of provincial examinable courses taken per student. From these statistics, a rating for each of the six school years, 1992/93 through 1997/98, has been calculated.
"Last year’s Report Card generated a huge amount of discussion, and, based on the comments we received, a number of new features were added to this years’ study," says co-author Stephen Easton, "we will continue to improve subsequent versions of the report and add new variables from a greater variety of sources."
Given that children from different home backgrounds may not be equally prepared or equipped to succeed in school, a new statistic has been added (compiled from Ministry of Education and Statistics Canada data) to provide an indicator of the socio-economic characteristics of students’ families at each school.
A strong association emerged from the data: if the average number of years of education obtained by the female parent, or by the lone parent in a single-parent family, was greater, the average mark of the student was likely to be higher. This is a clear indication that a parent’s education is much more closely associated with school performance than simply parent’s income.
Also included this year is the grade 12 enrolment for each school. This gives an important reference point when considering variability in the data over time—schools with smaller enrolments are likely to experience much wider variations.
In addition to providing the raw data for a period of several years it is also important to identify any important school-level changes over the study period. As a result, included in this year’s Report Card is a Progress Indicator that illustrates the direction of any statistically significant change in each school’s performance on each of the indicators.
"In the 1999 Report Card we include explicit indicators of the trends in each indicator of school performance during the past six years. These trends should be of particular interest to parents about to decide which high school their child is to attend, as well as to taxpayers interested in how their money is being invested in the education system in this province," concludes Cowley.
Two schools, Prince of Wales Secondary in Vancouver, and St. Thomas Aquinas in North Vancouver, achieved a perfect score of 10 on this year’s overall ranking. On an equally positive note, Walnut Grove Secondary, in Langley, achieved significant improvement in every category being measured.
"We hope that readers will use the Secondary Schools Report Card, not as a battleground, but as the basis for constructive discussion and action leading to real improvement," concludes Cowley.
Established in 1974, The Fraser Institute is an independent public policy organization based in Vancouver.
For further information, or for a copy of Secondary Schools Report Card for British Columbia 1999, contact:
Suzanne Walters, Director of Communications,
The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4582, Email suzannew@fraserinstitute.caFor the text of this document click here.
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