Fraser Institute ranks B.C. elementary schools

VANCOUVER – The Fraser Institute’s controversial annual report card on elementary schools shows that one in five B.C. students who wrote Foundation Skills Assessment tests in 2010 did not meet expectations.

On the positive side, 13 schools scored a perfect 10 on the report card, including several private schools including an independent school in Bountiful, a fundamentalist Mormon community, whose members have been before the courts on polygamy charges.

The rankings are controversial because they use results from Foundation Skills Assessment tests taken by students in Grades 4 and 7, which the B.C. Teachers Federation does not support.

The Fraser Institute’s director of school performance studies says the report card helps parents see which schools have improved year to year.

"And if their child’s school is not improving, or has declined, the report card gives parents the information they can use to ask questions of school administrators and teachers," Cowley said.

The B.C. Teachers Federation says the FSA tests are not a good use of teaching time.

" … The FSA tests do not help students learn or teachers teach, nor do they give parents any valuable information about their children’s progress," the BCTF said in a January news release. "Instead, they take valuable time and much-needed resources away from the classroom and undermine teachers’ ability to provide meaningful learning experiences for all students."

As well as the FSA results, the report card includes information about each school, including the percentage of English as a Second Language students, percentage of special needs students, and parents’ average income.

Of the top 20 schools showing the greatest academic improvement over the past five years, 15 are public schools where average parental incomes range from $25,900 to $82,900. At one such school, ESL students account for 57.9 per cent of the total student population; at another, more than 17 per cent of students are special needs; and at a third, 30 per cent of the students are aboriginal, according to the news release.

"The success of these schools shows improvement is possible in every school, no matter what the personal and family characteristics of the students. These remarkable success stories would go unrecognized if it weren’t for standardized testing and the Fraser Institute report card," Cowley said.