VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 21, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Independent elementary schools in British Columbia continue to outperform the province’s public schools, claiming 80 of the top 102 spots in the Fraser Institute’s annual ranking of B.C. elementary schools released today.
The Report Card on British Columbia’s Elementary Schools, 2018 ranks 946 public and independent elementary schools based on 10 academic indicators derived from the provincewide Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) results.
“The report card 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,” said Peter Cowley, director of school performance studies at the Fraser Institute.
Of the top 102 ranked schools provincewide, only 22 are public. And of those 22 schools, nine are located in West Vancouver including the top-ranked Cedardale and West Bay Elementary.
Contrary to common misconceptions, according to previous research, families with children enrolled in most independent schools in B.C. have an average (after tax) income only 1.9 per cent higher than parents with children in public schools.
“Simply put, differences in parental income do not appear to explain the differences in the overall ratings of independent and public schools,” Cowley said.
In addition to the ranking, the report card also spotlights schools that are improving or falling behind.
This year, 16 of the 20 fastest-improving schools are public schools. Parkview Elementary in Sicamous—the fastest-improving school provincewide—has improved its overall rating from 2.8 to 6.6 between 2013 and 2017. And Woodland Park Elementary in Surrey improved its overall rating from 5.2 to 7.0 over the same four-year period.
“All too often we hear excuses that public schools can’t improve student performance because of the communities and the students they serve, but the evidence suggests otherwise.” Cowley said.
For the complete results on all ranked schools, and to easily compare the performance of different schools, visit www.compareschoolrankings.org.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Peter Cowley
Director of School Performance Studies, Fraser Institute
Cell: (604) 789-0475
Office: (604) 714-4556
E-mail: peter.cowley@fraserinstitute.org
Bryn Weese
Media Relations Specialist, Fraser Institute
Cell: (604) 250-8076
Office: (604) 688-0221 Ext. 589
E-mail: bryn.weese@fraserinstitute.org
Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter | Like us on Facebook
The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute’s independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org