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The Fraser Institute

BC Secondary Schools Report Card, 2000:
Introdution

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Every year at this time, we ask ourselves: Why should we measure the performance of schools? In previous editions of the Fraser Institute's Report Card on British Columbia's Secondary Schools (Report Card), the question has prompted a two-part answer.

First, we measure performance so that the schools will have an objective benchmark against which to improve. Measurement of results as the basis for improvement is widely practised in all kinds of organizations. In education, such measurement is routine. The United Kingdom's Department for Education and Employment annually produces and widely distributes detailed tables of performance-related measures for primary schools, secondary schools, and colleges.¹

Closer to home, the education authorities in California and Oregon have moved beyond simply collecting and disseminating performance data. Last year, California enacted the Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999, which requires that its State Board of Education develop an Academic Performance Index (a single statistic much like the Report Card's Overall rating out of 10) to measure the effectiveness of its elementary, middle, and secondary schools. In Oregon, a new state law requires the Department of Education to issue Performance Reports for the state's schools that rate the school on a number of dimensions. Like the Report Card, these overall indices are intended to answer an important question, "How is your school doing?"

Second, and equally as important, the Fraser Institute's Report Card on British Columbia's Secondary Schools measures and reports the performance of schools so that parents and students can make a more informed choice of an education provider.

Are our schools getting better?

Now, with the third edition, we have another reason to produce the Report Card. We have collected data over a long enough period to identify and publicly acknowledge those schools that have improved.

Eleven secondary schools in British Columbia have, over the last seven years, recorded a significant improvement in at least four of the Report Card's five academic performance indicators (table 1). Every year, the schools welcomed a new group of students with different abilities, interests, and motivations into the grade 12 class. Yet these schools steadily improved.

Table 1 Secondary Schools in British Columbia showing significant improvement on four indicators, 1993-1999
District	School
Prince Rupert	Charles Hays Secondary
Sunshine Coast	Chatelech Secondary
Nanaimo	Dover Bay Secondary
Fort Nelson	Fort Nelson Secondary
Kootenay-Columbia	J. Lloyd Crowe Secondary
Arrow Lakes	Nakusp Secondary
New Westminster	New Westminster Secondary
Surrey	Princess Margaret Secondary
Abbotsford	Rick Hansen Secondary
Surrey	Semiahmoo Secondary
Langley	Walnut Grove Secondary

The students at these schools do not all routinely get top marks on the provincial examinations. In this year's provincial ranking, they range from sixth to 179th out of 271. But, they all share one important attribute: they are improving. Since a primary objective of the Report Card is to facilitate and encourage improvement, it is fitting that we open the Third Annual Report Card on British Columbia's Secondary Schools (third edition) with a salute to these 11 schools.

We hope that the example set by these schools will inspire others to set their schools on a course of constant improvement. In future editions of the Report Card, we shall continue to provide a public acknowledgement of their success.

There is other evidence that improvement is taking place in many schools in British Columbia. During the last five years, the overall ratings have begun to improve. The percentage of all schools in the Report Card that recorded a rating of 6 out of 10 or less has gone down from 56 percent to 39 percent. Those scoring between 6 and 8 have increased from 30 percent to 39 percent and those scoring over 8 have increased from just 14 percent in 1995 to 22 percent in 1998-99.

While this movement is encouraging, there is still a great deal to do. Indeed, much of the improvement in the Overall rating is the result of a rapid and dramatic increase in one indicator--the Graduation rate. This movement is unmatched in the other dimensions of school effectiveness that contribute to the Overall rating. There are also other dimensions not previously measured by the Report Card that merit the attention of school authorities and parents alike. Some of these are measured for the first time in this third edition.

What is new in this year's Report Card?

How well do schools take into account their students' socio-economic circumstances?

In the last edition, we introduced a measure of the socio-economic characteristics of the school's student body. This enabled parents and school officials to compare their school's results with the results of schools whose student body had similar socio-economic characteristics. Building on this base, for each school the third edition includes a measure of the difference between actual school performance as measured by the Report Card's Overall rating out of 10 and the level of performance that might be expected solely as a consequence of the socio-economic characteristics of its student body.

Is there a difference between the results of the two sexes at the school?

The difference between the school results of boys and those of girls is a vitally important issue. Pat Clark, then an assistant director in the British Columbia Teachers' Federation brought the issue into focus. He wrote, "Recent research however is showing that there has been an important change, boys used to catch up to the girls, now they don't. This explains why first-year admissions at UBC and SFU are now almost 60 percent female, a complete reversal from 25 years ago when female admissions were around 40 percent. Admissions to all but some technical and apprenticeship post-secondary programs and applied science faculties at universities are now predominantly female." ²

In June of last year, we released Boys, Girls, and Grades: Academic Gender Balance in British Columbia's Secondary Schools. In this study, we showed that where student evaluation took place at the school level, girls were likely to do better than boys. We also found that the size of sex-based differences varied markedly among schools and concluded:

Our findings suggest that the province's schools have great potential for improvement in the extent to which they enable learners of both genders to perform to their potential . . . To provide a benchmark against which annual progress can be measured, we will include a gender balance performance indicator in future editions of the . . . [Report Card].³

The Gender Gap indicator and ranking appears for the first time in this third edition. The indicator reports which sex received the highest average school mark in each of two important courses--English 12 and Mathematics 12--as well as the actual difference in percentage points between the two results. It shows how effective the school has been in minimizing the differences in results between the sexes.

Improving school results for students of both sexes requires continued research and experimentation. School-level initiatives can make a difference. A statistical review conducted by the Notley High School⁴ in Essex, England, showed that boys were not doing as well as their female counterparts at school, particularly in reading comprehension. Teachers and school officials began experimenting with a variety of mechanisms to improve boys' learning while maintaining or improving that of the girls. These included teaching boys differently from girls, closer individual monitoring, early remedial work where required, and a redesign of classroom seating to bring into proximity students who can help each other learn. Teachers also reported that until the measurement and publication of results, they had been largely unaware of this widespread problem.

These new indicators provide school administrators, teachers, counsellors, and parents with another benchmark upon which to plan improvements that will make the school more effective.

Do students in the school do better in some courses than in others?

In order to provide more in-depth information to parents, administrators, and other interested groups, the third edition also includes a snapshot of each school's results in the eight most popular provincially examinable courses. Both average final examination mark and the rate of participation are provided. Readers can easily compare a school's performance in a variety of courses and can also compare corresponding results among schools.

What plans do we have for future editions?

Measuring the value added by the school: The Foundation Skills Assessment Tests

Early in 1999, the measurement of school performance in British Columbia suffered a temporary setback when the Ministry of Education decided not to release school-level Provincial Learning Assessment Program 1999 test results. These annual tests measure students' ability in reading, writing, and mathematics at grades 4, 7, and 10. It was our intention eventually to include the results from the annual grade 10 tests (now called Foundation Skills Assessment tests) in the Report Card. By comparing grade 10 results with the same cohort's results in grade 12 English and Mathematics, we hoped to establish an estimate of the "value added" by the school during the student's final two years of secondary school. Fortunately, the Ministry has decided once again to release school-level data beginning with the May 2000 FSA test series. We are encouraged that this important data will again be available for analysis.

Anybody there? Taking the pulse of the school by measuring student attendance levels

Most improvements to the Report Card depend on the availability of new information and, unfortunately, the Ministry of Education maintains a rather limited database of information about the performance of individual schools. Measurement of school performance often requires data collected and controlled by the province's 60 school districts and its many independent schools. Obtaining these data can prove difficult.

Last summer, we requested information on average student attendance from all the public school districts. We had planned to use this data in the Report Card as an indicator of the extent to which schools were successful in engaging the interest and attention of their students. After all, it is difficult to teach students if they are present only sporadically. We also wanted to verify research that showed that high attendance levels were associated with greater student academic success and with reductions in anti-social activities like theft and the use and sale of illegal drugs.

School attendance is also a matter of considerable interest to all taxpayers because school funding is based on a single, annual headcount of students on September 30 rather than on daily attendance in class. Taxpayers pay for the operation of the public school whether its students attend class or not: poor attendance represents a waste of public funds.

Regrettably, not one of the province's school districts has yet provided basic attendance data. Many explained that they do not collect this information from each school. We will continue our efforts to acquire the data and incorporate this important school performance measure into the Report Card.⁵