Fraser Institute Report Card Spotlights Fastest Improving Elementary Schools in British Columbia

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - May 4, 2015) - Across British Columbia, 50 elementary schools showed significant improvement in their academic performance over the past five years, according to the Fraser Institute's annual school rankings released today.

The Report Card on British Columbia's Elementary Schools 2015, rates 978 public and independent elementary schools based on 10 academic indicators derived from the annual Foundation Skills Assessments (FSAs) administered for the B.C. Ministry of Education.

"Parents have repeatedly shown they value the ability to track the academic performance of their children's schools and compare them to the performance of other schools. With five years of results for most schools, the report card also enables them to quickly and easily determine if their children's school is improving or worsening academically," said Peter Cowley, Fraser Institute director of school performance studies.

The data from the 2015 report card suggests that every school is capable of improvement regardless of the type of school, its location and despite the proportion of students with special needs or students in ESL programs.

For example, one of the fastest improving schools in the province in 2014 - based on analysis of its results during the most recent five years - is Beaver Creek located in Surrey. Despite half of its Grade 4 class identified as ESL learners, Beaver Creek's overall rating has steadily improved to 5.6 (out of 10) in 2014 from just 2.8 in 2010.

"Principals and teachers across the province will be eager to find out how schools like Bear Creek helped their students achieve higher levels of academic success. By doing so, they may be able to find things they can do to help their own students do better," Cowley said.

Detailed results of all 978 schools can be found at www.compareschoolrankings.org. Visitors to the site can quickly and easily see how a school is doing over the past five years on any of the 10 indicators of academic performance as well as the overall rating.

The complete Report Card on British Columbia's Elementary Schools 2015, is also available as a free pdf.

Fastest improving schools in the report card:

1. Alice Brown (Public), Langley
2. Beaver Creek (Public), Surrey
3. Conrad (Public), Prince Rupert
4. Gibsons (Public), Gibsons
5. Rosedale Traditional (Public), Rosedale
6. Betty Huff (Public), Surrey
7. Vermilion Forks (Public), Princeton
8. Upper Pine (Public), Fort St. John
9. Steeples (Public), Cranbrook
10. Langley Fine Arts (Public), Fort Langley

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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.