VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Fraser Institute today released its annual rankings of British Columbia elementary schools, the most easily accessible tool for parents to compare the academic performance of B.C. schools.
The Report Card on British Columbia’s Elementary Schools 2020 ranks 931 public and independent elementary schools based on 10 academic indicators derived from provincewide Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) results.
“The report card offers parents information they can’t easily find anywhere else, about how their child’s school performs over time and how it compares to other schools in the province,” said Peter Cowley, report co-author and senior fellow at the Fraser Institute.
Contrary to common misconceptions, the data suggest every school is capable of improvement regardless of type, location and student characteristics.
For example, this year’s fastest-improving elementary school—Wickaninnish in Tofino—climbed from a score of 2.3 (out of 10) in 2015 to 7.3 in 2019. Incidentally, last schoolyear (2018/2019), Indigenous students comprised 47 per cent of the student population.
And Central School in Port Coquitlam rose from 2.3 to 4.4 (from 2015 to 2019) despite “English language learners” comprising 53 per cent of the student population.
“We often hear that schools can’t improve because of the communities and students they serve, but the evidence suggests otherwise,” Cowley said.
For the complete results on all ranked schools and to compare the performance of different schools, visit www.compareschoolrankings.org.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Peter Cowley, Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
(604-789-0475)
peter.cowley@fraserinstitute.org
Mark Hasiuk
(604) 688-0221 ext. 517
mark.hasiuk@fraserinstitute.org
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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