Private elementary schools in B.C. take top ranks: Fraser Institute Report

The Fraser Institute released its annual Report Card on British Columbias Elementary Schools, and private schools top the list.

The report takes a look at which schools have improved or fallen behind by looking at how students performed in key areas including reading, writing, and math.

The school is given a rating out of 10, said co-author Peter Cowley, and about a handful earned a perfect score.

“We had a tie of 21 schools, all of which got 10 out of 10. Two of them are public schools, both from West Vancouver, and the rest of them are all private schools,” Cowley said.

According to the report, out of nearly 1,000 schools, dozens have improved their score.

“Out of the 946 schools, we’ve found 53 that have actually shown a real improvement over the last five-year period, and they come from every part of the province,” Cowley said.

“The magic about this is that you don’t have to be in a rich neighbourhood to improve, you don’t have to be in an urban neighbourhood to improve, you don’t have to be a big school or a little school.”

WATCH: Fraser Institute discusses 2015 school rankings

Cowley said if parents want to see improvement, they should engage with the school principal to see what can be done to get better results.

“It’s almost a responsibility for parents to say to the principal, ‘Wait, I mean, we don’t want to see the average results in our school going down, what can we do along with the principal and the teachers to turn that trend around?'”

You can find the results online at www.compareschoolrankings.org