Grading Alberta’s High Schools

Fraser Institute publishes third annual report card

Contacts:

Peter Cowley, Director of School Performance Studies
The Fraser Institute
Telephone: (403) 216-7175
Email: peterc@fraserinstitute.ca

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

Release Date: 6 May 2001

CALGARY, AB —The Fraser Institute today released its Report Card on Alberta's High Schools: 2001 Edition.This third annual report is the only one of its kind to analyze relevant, publicly-available data to rate 275 of Alberta's public, separate, private, and francophone high 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 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 Alberta Learning, each school is rated on a scale of zero to 10.

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

1. Average diploma examination mark;

2. Percentage of diploma examinations failed;

3. Difference between the school mark and the examination mark in diploma courses;

4. English 30 gender gap;

5. Mathematics 30 gender gap;

6. Number of diploma courses taken per student;

7. Diploma completion rate.

From these statistics, a rating for each of the five school years, 1995/1996 through 1999/2000, has been calculated.

This set of indicators has been selected because they provide systematic insight into a school's performance. Because they are based on annually generated data, a school's performance in a year can be assessed, as well as its improvement or deterioration over time.

Comparisons are at the heart of the improvement process and making comparisons between schools is made simpler and more meaningful by the Report Card's indicators, ratings, and rankings.

"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.

Several aspects of the Report Card have been improved for the edition. The Report Card now includes five years of historical data which has been analyzed to determine whether the school has experienced statistically significant improvement or deterioration on each of the indicators and its overall rating. In addition, the design of Gender Gap indicator has been improved and included in the school's overall rating.

Also included in this edition are the six diploma courses most frequently taken at each school and the examination results in these courses. This allows readers to easily compare a school's performance in a variety of courses and to compare corresponding results among schools.

The vast majority of Alberta's students attend schools that are wholly or largely financed by taxpayers. For the school year 2000/2001, Alberta's taxpayers will spend more than three billion dollars to operate and maintain the province's elementary and secondary schools. A public expenditure of such magnitude necessitates continued independent measurement of the system's results. The measurements should be easily available to any interested taxpayers.

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, produced in association with the Montreal Economic Institute, was published in 2000. A Report Card on Ontario's Secondary Schools was released in April 2001.

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

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