Fraser Institute Ranks Academic Performance of 289 B.C. Secondary Schools, Spotlights the Province's Top School Boards

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - May 14, 2015) - The Fraser Institute today published its annual rankings of British Columbia secondary schools, identifying the schools across the province that are improving or falling behind.

The Report Card on Secondary Schools in British Columbia 2015 rates 289 public and independent secondary schools based on seven academic indicators using student results from annual provincewide exams, grade-to-grade transition rates, and graduation rates.

"Whether they are choosing a school or already have children enrolled, our rankings are the go-to source for parents who want to find out how a school is doing over time or when compared to other schools," said Peter Cowley, Fraser Institute director of school performance studies.

The data in the report card also enable comparisons among 57 B.C. public school boards.

"Ultimately, it is B.C.'s school boards that are responsible for the quality of the education services their schools provide. If schools in an individual board are not doing well, a fair question is: 'What is the school board doing about it?'" Cowley said.

In 2014, seven of the top 10 school boards - based on the average overall rating out of 10 earned by the schools they operate -were located in Metro Vancouver. West Vancouver School District was highest with an average rating of 7.5 out of 10, followed by New Westminster, Coquitlam, Richmond, Langley, Vancouver, and North Vancouver.

Revelstoke, Comox Valley and Okanagan Similkameen boards rounded out the top 10.

Larger districts with below average performance include Kamloops/Thompson (4.9), Prince George (4.5), Nanaimo-Ladysmith (4.4), and Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows (4.3).

Detailed results of all 289 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 and compare results among schools. The complete Report Card on British Columbia's Secondary Schools 2015, is also available as a free pdf.

Top 10 Public School Boards

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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.