Private girls’ schools top annual high school list
Posted April 30, 2012 11:06 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Private girls’ high schools top the annual Fraser Institute rankings of BC’s secondary schools.
Vancouver’s York House School, Crofton House School and Little Flower Academy are ranked one, two and three respectively.
The Fraser Institute’s Peter Cowley says only two of the top 21 schools are public, Lord Byng and University Hill, also in Vancouver.
“Often times that’s used as a criticism of the report card. But, of course, what it shows, I think, is the private schools that are up at the top of the ratings have to be there. Why? Because their parents want an atmosphere of high academic achievement. And if they don’t find it, they’ll simply move their kids out of the private school and on[to] somewhere else.”
According to the report, 14 of the fastest-improving secondary schools in BC are public schools. Of those 14, 10 high schools are below the provincial average in terms of parental incomes.
The top three fastest-improving schools are Lake Cowichan Secondary School, Selkirk Secondary School in Kimberley and Heritage Park Secondary School in Mission.
The report card also shows 10.2 per cent of secondary school exams written in 2011 received a failing grade, up from 8.1 per cent last year.
Last on the list was Nisga’a in New Aiyansh Village, located about 100 kilometres northwest of Terrace.
The BC Teachers’ Federation says the rankings are not a solid overall picture of a school’s achievement and based on phoney science.
“All they are about is trying to promote private schools over public schools,” believes BCTF President Susan Lambert. “If you go the Fraser Institute’s website, you’ll see that their philosophy is that private alternatives to public services is the way to go.”
The rankings are based on grade 10, 11 and 12 province-wide tests.
