According to the Fraser Institute’s annual B.C. secondary schools rankings, which was released earlier this month, Lakes District Secondary School’s (LDSS) performance has been declining.
The 2017 report card ranks 293 public and independent secondary schools based on seven academic indicators using student results from annual province-wide exams, grade-to-grade transition rates and graduation rates.
Out of the 293 schools assessed, LDSS ranked 254. While the school had a rating of 5.6 out of 10 two years ago, the school’s rating dropped to 4.4 last year and to 4.1 this year.
Peter Cowley, director of school performance studies at the Fraser Institute, said the annual report card reveals how schools perform year over year so parents can quickly see “if there are problems that must be corrected.”
“Parents with children at schools with declining results or consistent low performance should ask the principal to explain the school’s plan to turn those poor results into greater student success,” Cowley said. “And principals at these schools would do well to consult with their colleagues at improving schools and learn how they accomplished their turnarounds.”
Other schools assessed within School District No. 91 (Nechako Lakes) also did not stand out in the ranking. Fraser Lake Elementary-Secondary ranked 277 with a rating of 2.8; Fort St. James Secondary ranked 248 with a 4.2 rating; and Nechako Valley Secondary, located in Vanderhoof, ranked 210 and rated 5.1.
According to the Fraser Institute, this year’s ranking revealed “alarming declines” across B.C.
MacKenzie Secondary, near Prince George, had the fastest decline in the province, falling from an overall rating of 5.2 out of 10 in 2012 to just 0.3 out of 10 in this year’s report. Barriere Secondary School, near Kamloops, dropped from five to 1.7 over the same four-year period and Nanaimo’s Wellington Secondary declined from an overall rating of 5.2 to 2.6 out of 10.
But other schools - including schools with relatively high numbers of ESL and special needs students - have improved their ratings. Semiahmoo Secondary in Surrey, which has 15.3 per cent ESL students, has improved every year over the past four years, from an overall rating of seven out of 10 in 2012 to 7.9 in 2016.
And while many improving schools are in the Lower Mainland, schools in Terrace, Sechelt, Fort Nelson, Grand Forks and Summerland also improved their ratings since 2012.
The Fraser Institute’s schools ranking has been widely criticized by a number of educators and institutions. Manu Madhok, assistant superintendent for School District 91, has repeatedly stated that the report card is “fundamentally flawed” and that it provides a “limited snapshot of student performance.”
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) has also been dismissive of the schools ranking. In fact, the BCTF has asked parents to withdraw their children from the annual testing.
For the complete results on all ranked schools, and to compare the performance of different schools, visit www.compareschoolrankings.org.