Castlegar schools graded

By Francisco Canjura - Castlegar News - May 14, 2008

Castlegar elementary schools were ranked on the bottom half of the Fraser Institute’s report card, while Stanley Humphries Secondary School was placed near the head of the class.

The three elementary schools in Castlegar all received a ranking below 600 out of 981 elementary schools in the province.

Twin Rivers Elementary ranked third at 610, followed by Robson Elementary at 694 while Kinnaird Elementary ranked the lowest at 819.

The overall rating for Twin Rivers was 5.6 out of 10. Last year their ranking was 6.9 and over the past five years they have averaged a ranking of 429 out of 981 schools.

Kinnaird Elementary got a rating of 4.4 out of 10. Last year their rating was 5.2. Over the last five years, they have averaged a ranking of 563 out of 981 schools.

Robson Elementary received a ranking of 5.2 out of 10.

Last year, the school received a rating of 3.7 and there was no five year average.

Peter Cowley, co-author of the report card and director of school performance studies at the Fraser Institute, explained this year’s rankings should not alarm anybody.

People should look at the five-year cycle to get a better understanding of a school’s true ranking, Cowley said.

The eight elementary schools in the School District of Kootenay Columbia were ranked 15 out of the 57 school districts in the province, and said the district is doing OK.

The secondary schools of the district fared much better than their elementary school counterparts.

As a school district, the secondary schools of the Kootenay Columbia District 20 placed second behind the School District of West Vancouver.

Stanley Humphries Secondary received an overall rating of 7.5 out of 10.

Principals of the schools could not comment on the ranking as it was decided Jean Borsa, School District 20 Superintendent, would field all media questions.

Borsa explained the district does not take the Fraser Institute’s rankings seriously because they are not accurate.

“The measurements they use are simple and schools are complex,” said Borsa.

Borsa explained the measurement tools used by the Fraser Institute are flawed because they use a one-time test.

She believes more factors, such as students’ backgrounds, behaviour, and special needs care, need to be taken into account to show the true ranking of the schools.

“I don’t agree with the ranking,” said Borsa.

Cowley, on the other hand, believes the ranking system is as accurate as can be considering the amount of information the institute is given.

“I can’t think of a time when our numbers were wrong,” said Cowley.

He explained the institute takes data from six different tests, reading, writing and mathematics, to get a ranking for elementary schools.

“That’s a total of six tests administered to two different Grade levels,” said Cowley.

If you wish to view the complete report card for each school, visit the Fraser Institute’s web site at www.fraserinstitute.org.

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Castlegar schools graded

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