Low scores for schools in Burns Lake

The 2021 Fraser Institute scores for schools in British Columbia are out, including schools in Burns Lake. The schools are ranked using objective, publicly-available data such as average scores on province-wide tests. Rankings are done for all elementary and high schools in B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.

Lakes District Secondary School, the lone high school in town had a 5.1, which was ranked 181 out of 252 high schools in the province.

Elementary schools in town didn’t fair as well though, as Decker Lake Elementary scored a 1.9 which ranked 916 out of 931 schools, and William Konkin Elementary was slightly better with a 3.1, ranking 878 out of 931.

“Similar to many, many public schools across this province, our educators have learned to take the Fraser Institute rankings in context of where they come from. We have a variety of assessment data that show the gains our students are making year over year and although not always at the pace that we want for all students, we are focused on ensuring success for every one of our learners,” said School District 91 Assistant Superintendent Mike Skinner.

“We work hard to not let the rankings demoralize our educators but you can imagine what it feels like to have your school be judged in a report that is fundamentally flawed in design.”

Skinner went on to tell Lakes District News that there are some key flaws with the scoring system of the Fraser Institute.

“Their report is based on a small set of indicators. Schools offer much beyond the provincial assessments that occur in Grades 4 and 7. As this is a primary source of information for the Fraser Institute, their results provide a very limited snapshot of student performance.,” said Skinner.

“There are a variety of factors that determine school readiness that are not taken into account by the Fraser Institute. In essence many of their comparisons are similar to comparing apples and bananas.”

READ MORE: Teacher shortages for SD91