Fraser Institute News Release: Twenty-Three of the 25 Improving Schools in Alberta Are Public Schools

CALGARY, AB--(Marketwired - July 23, 2016) - The Fraser Institute today released its popular Report Card on Alberta high schools, the most easily accessible tool for parents to compare the academic performance of their children's schools.

The Report Card on Alberta's High Schools 2016 rates 307 public, private, separate and charter schools based on five academic indicators generated from grade 12 provincewide testing, grade-to-grade transition and graduation rates.

"Alberta parents want the best for their families and having the ability to compare school performance helps them make a more informed decision about the school their children attend," said Peter Cowley, Fraser Institute director of school performance studies.

Taking into account the last five years, Alberta's two charter high schools achieved the highest average rating of 8.3 (out of 10), followed by private schools (8.1), separate schools (6.3) and public schools (6.0).

In addition to the rankings, the Report Card illustrates which specific schools are improving or falling behind in academics.

The data suggests that every school is capable of improvement regardless of the type of school, its location and the proportion of students with special needs or students in English as a Second Language (ESL) programs.

For example, the school enjoying the fastest statistically significant improvement over the past five years is École Mallaig School, a public school in north-eastern Alberta. Despite having 25 per cent of its students identified as special needs learners, Mallaig's overall rating has steadily improved to 7.7 (out of 10) in 2015 from 3.5 in 2011.

Of the 10 fastest-improving schools, all are public schools.

"When parents see the Report Card's objective evidence that a school's results are consistently low or declining, they often become very effective advocates for improvement," Cowley said.

"Every year, every school in the province should find ways to improve student results-it's as simple as that."

For detailed results of all 307 schools, go to www.compareschoolrankings.org where you can quickly see how a school performed over the past five years and how it compares to other schools.

Peter Cowley is available for media interviews, from Calgary, on Saturday and Sunday.

The 25 fastest improving schools 2011-2015

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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