BC private schools rank tops in report

Private schools took the top 12 spots in the Fraser Institute's controversial annual ranking of B.C. secondary schools for 2006.

Six Lower Mainland private schools tied for top spot. Vancouver's University Hill Secondary remained the top-ranked public school, but dropped to 13th place overall from 8th in 2005.

But Ken Denike, chairman of the Vancouver School Board, says excellence in some public schools' programs may actually result in a lower ranking. For instance, he said, excellent international baccalaureate, fine arts, trades and athletics programs may drag a school's ranking down because students interested in such programs take fewer courses that are tested using provincial exams.

"It's almost a single-factor argument and you have to know how far you can extend that," Denike warned, adding the ranking is mostly a reflection of provincial test scores.

The rankings of the Report Card on Secondary Schools in B.C. and Yukon are designed to help parents compare and choose schools for their children, said report co-author Peter Cowley. He noted that in B.C., children are not restricted to schools near their homes.

But Cowley cautioned the rankings should not be the sole source of information used to choose a school. Parents need to ask themselves whether they agree the ranking criteria are meaningful. "If the answer is no, close the book," Cowley said.

He suggested parents should also get information from sources such as other parents and the school principal.

Cowley said some private schools rank highly because they have entrance exams.

Paying tuition does not guarantee a good ranking, however, and a number of private schools were in the bottom 100 of the 281 schools ranked.

Cowley said the rankings help parents assess whether their child's school is doing better or worse over time, and can be a starting point for discussions with teachers and administrators.

"The most important stories to me are, who's improving," Cowley said. For example, Guildford Park Secondary is now ranked 135th, up from an average of 216th over the past five years. Princess Margaret secondary in Surrey also improved to 64th from 107th. "People should be asking, 'How did they do that?' "

This is the ninth year the Fraser Institute, a right-wing think tank, has used government data to rank schools in B.C.

The ranking is based on a score out of 10 calculated from a combination of eight criteria, including students' performance on provincial exams, how school grades compare to provincial exam scores, the rate at which students progress through their studies, their graduation rate and the average number of core academic courses taken per students. For the first time, four schools in the Yukon were included.

(prepared by Emily Chung/Vancouver Sun)


TEN SCHOOLS FROM THE TOP AND BOTTOM:

Below are the 10 top-ranked and 10 bottom-ranked schools in the Lower Mainland according the Fraser Institute Report Card on Secondary Schools in British Columbia and Yukon -- 2006 edition. Private schools are indicated with an asterisk. The rank of each out of 281 B.C. and Yukon schools is in brackets. The full report is available at www.fraserinstitute.ca.


TOP SCHOOLS

Crofton House*, Vancouver (1)

Little Flower Academy*, Vancouver (1)

Southridge secondary*, Surrey (1)

St. George's*, Vancouver (1)

West Point Grey*, Vancouver (1)

York House*, Vancouver (1)

Vancouver College*, Vancouver (8)

Collingwood*, West Vancouver (13)

University Hill secondary, Vancouver (13)

West Vancouver secondary, West Vancouver (15)


BOTTOM SCHOOLS

Queen Elizabeth secondary, Surrey (268)

John Oliver secondary, Vancouver (264)

Sir Charles Tupper secondary, Vancouver (263)

Hugh Boyd secondary, Richmond (239)

Thomas Haney Centre, Maple Ridge (239)

Alpha secondary, Burnaby (235)

Gladstone secondary, Vancouver (230)

King George secondary, Vancouver (224)

Windermere community secondary, Vancouver (224)

R.C. Palmer secondary, Richmond (224)

(Source: Fraser Institute)