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Elementary schools graded by FSA tests

May 18th, 2006 by admin

While private schools again topped Surrey’s list in this year’s Report Card on British Columbia’s Elementary Schools, public schools from different areas of the city rounded out the top 10.
For the fourth year, the Fraser Institute gave schools across the province a rating out of 10 based on results of the Ministry of Education’s 2004/05 Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) tests of writing, reading and numeracy in Grades 4 and 7. Similar rankings of high schools are also released annually by the Vancouver-based public policy organization.


Khalsa SchoolSurrey’s Khalsa School topped the local elementary rankings for the second consecutive year, with a perfect score of 10, followed by Diamond, Southridge, Our Lady of Good Counsel, and White Rock Christian – all independent schools.


Public schools Boundary Park, Bayridge, Ocean Cliff, Erma Stephenson, and Laronde Elementary filled out the top Surrey spots.


In Delta, Immaculate Conception and Southpointe, both independent schools, came out on top, with Tsawwassen’s Beach Grove ranked third. Private school Sacred Heart, and public schools Neilson Grove, Brooke, Holly, Cliff Drive, South Park and Annieville rounded out the top 10.


The report card, available at www.fraserinstitute.ca, also provides information about the number of English as a Second Language (ESL) pupils, as well as parents’ average level of education.


The B.C. Teachers’ Federation says the Fraser Institute’s rankings are meaningless and misleading because they’re based on test scores only, ignoring the other things happening in B.C. schools.

Teachers’ unions annually attempt to encourage parents to withdraw their kids from writing the exams, saying the FSA tests consume class time, cause stress for students, and narrow curriculum and teaching methods as instructors feel pressure to teach to the tests.


Peter Cowley, the Fraser Institute’s director of school performance studies, argues the tests are crucial in measuring performance of individual schools.


“Should the BCTF be successful in encouraging parents to withdraw their children from these tests then it would be impossible for us to produce an annual report card. Parents, educators, and others taxpayers would all be denied the ability to compare schools of interest,” he said. “And school-to-school comparisons are the key to improving our children’s education.”

Source: Surrey Leader (www.surreyleader.com)
by Sheila Reynolds

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