Grading BC's Schools:Fourth Annual Report Card Released

Contact:

Peter Cowley, Director of School Performance Studies
The Fraser Institute
Telephone: (604) 714-4556
Email: peterc@fraserinstitute.ca

Release Date: 4 March 2001

VANCOUVER, BC — The Fraser Institute today released its Report Card on British Columbia's Secondary Schools: 2001 Edition. This annual report is the only one of its kind to analyze relevant, publicly available data to rate 281 of the province's public and independent secondary schools. The Report Card provides an objective benchmark against which schools can improve.

"The Report Card is widely published so that everyone with an interest in an individual school can see the results. Parents, who previously had little information upon which to base discussion with teachers and school administrators, can use the Report Card as a starting place to discuss improvement," says Peter Cowley, Director of School Performance Studies at The Fraser Institute, and the report's co-author.

The foundation of the Report Card is an overall rating of each school's academic performance. Building on data about student results provided by the Ministry of Education, each school is rated on a scale from zero to 10.

For each school, seven indicators of school performance are measured:

1. Average provincial examination mark;
2. Percentage of provincial examinations failed;
3. The difference between the school mark and examination mark in provincially examinable courses;
4. The difference between male and female students in the value of indicator (3) for English 12 only;
5. The difference between male and female students in the value of indicator (3) for Mathematics 12 only;
6. Provincially examinable courses taken per student;
  
7. Graduation rate.

From these statistics, a rating for each of the eight school years, 1992/93 through 1999/2000, has been calculated.

As part of its continual evolution, this fourth edition of the Report Card has added a new feature that focuses on a school’s success in a single subject—this year, English 12. Each school’s average examination mark and participation rate for the school years 1992/93 through 1999/2000 are compared to the provincial average and the difference is reported. Any statistically significant change over six years is also reported.

"Teaching children to read with understanding, to communicate with clarity, and to reason soundly is at the heart of our idea of an effective K-12 education system. It is with these basic skills in hand that children are able to develop other abilities and attitudes that will allow them to become responsible and productive participants in the political and economic life of our country. If schools are unsuccessful in achieving these basic objectives, it is difficult to understand why they should continue to operate," says Cowley.

Improvement is the main objective of the Report Card. These 21 schools have experienced significant improvement over the last eight years:

• Aldergrove Community Secondary School, Aldergrove    
• Ballenas Secondary, Parksville
• Chatelech Secondary, Sechelt
• Chemainus Secondary, Chemainus
• Dover Bay Secondary, Nanaimo
• Elgin Park Secondary, Surrey
• Immaculata Regional High, Kelowna
• Kwalikum Secondary, Qualicum Beach
• Logan Lake Elementary-Secondary School, Logan Lake
• New Westminster Secondary School, New Westminster
• Pacific Christian School, Victoria
• Princess Margaret Secondary, Surrey
• Princeton Secondary, Princeton
• Queen Charlotte Secondary, Queen Charlotte
• Rick Hansen Secondary, Abbotsford
• Rutland Secondary, Kelowna
• St. Ann’s Academy, Kamloops
• Valemount Secondary, Valemount
• Wellington Secondary, Nanaimo
• Yale Secondary, Abbotsford
• Fraser Valley Adventist Academy, Aldergrove

"While this movement is encouraging, there is still a great deal to do. It is time for those schools that have not yet established successful improvement programs to take a lesson or two from those that have, and get on with the job of helping all our students to succeed," concludes Cowley.

In future editions, the Report Card on British Columbia’s Secondary Schools will measure the value added by the school in the last two years of secondary school by looking at the results of the Ministry’s Annual Foundation Skills Assessment Tests. The 2002 edition of the Report Card will also include a measure of student attendance.

The Fraser Institute has published Report Cards on secondary schools in British Columbia since 1998, and in Alberta since 1999. The first Report Card on Quebec’s Secondary Schools was published in 2000. A Report Card on Ontario’s Secondary Schools will debut this April.

Established in 1974, The Fraser Institute is an independent public policy organization based in Vancouver, with offices in Calgary and Toronto.

For further information or for a .pdf version of the Report Card on British Columbia’s Secondary Schools: 2001 Edition contact:

Suzanne Walters, Director of Communications,
The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4582,
Email suzannew@fraserinstitute.ca.

The media release and the complete text and rankings of the Report Card can be viewed on the Institute’s web site at www.fraserinstitute.ca.

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