School rankings released

[fishertwo]

As far as I'm concerned the fraser institute of goof balls ,Is just that a bunch of goof balls ,who because they went to school a bit longer then some of us ,That they think they are smarter Iv'e got news for them. Some of the dumbest things I have ever heard of has come from these so called brains,With ABSOLUTLEY NO!!!!! common sense among the whole lot of them. The are about as smart as the real brainy ones who establish the school curriculum in this province another cluster of goofs,with no common sense what so ever.

[Rosemary1]

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-st ... htm#162287

A few interesting things in report card especially in light of recent school closures in South Okanagan an public schools class sizes.......
1. independent and private schools with smaller classes continue to score better than public schools. Lots of talk about investing in education. Class size at elementtry and secondary schools levels would be a good start.

2. In light of school closures in the south Okanagan, interesting to check out rating of schools being closed and where our kids are being sent to...

3. Assuming that kids in lowest ranking schools are less likely less make it to post-secondary education, check out your child's elementary and secondary school ranking. It's appalling that we would have any school rating as low as 3 out of 10 (look it up).

4. Also appalling that some schools and teachers discourage participation in these report cards. . The report cards may not be a perfect tool, but provide the best comparable gage of schools' performance. Parents, government and school districts need to take note and act .

[Barney Google]

School rankings released...

http://www.castanet.net/news/BC/162287/ ... s-released

What do you think of these rankings?

Looks very dismal for our local public schools...

[flamingfingers]

You also have to take into consideration the 'evaluating facility' which is the Fraser Institute, a self-admitted 'right wing think tank'. I could not be convinced that the Fraser Institute can eliminate their Likert factor which leans towards the elite (of which they are a part).

[GordonH]

I would suspect the truth to be somewhere between Fraser Institute spin & BCTF spin.

[jamapple]

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Our response to the @FraserInstitute's #bced rankings. #bcpoli

8:44 AM - 3 Apr 2016

I wonder what they would have said if these schools of ours were all ranked close to the top. This is a multiple choice question, kids.
a) The Fraser Institute doesn't know what they're talking about
b) We are ranked at the top because we have such dedicated teachers and support staff.

[Rosemary1]

True, that Fraser Institute is a right way thinking group but their rating methodology is fairly well explained (unlike the BCTF that only has its spin or the politically correct provincial auditor's report on education). As a 'test' I looked up 5 schools that I am familiar with and are included in the report card. Interestingly, the ratings were no surprise.

The Ministry of Education and School Districts should have similar comprehensive reviews based on some defensible methodology and respond with appropriate action to the more poorly rated schools to understand the cause and fix them.

[Dawggss]

True, that Fraser Institute is a right way thinking group but their rating methodology is fairly well explained (unlike the BCTF that only has its spin or the politically correct provincial auditor's report on education). As a 'test' I looked up 5 schools that I am familiar with and are included in the report card. Interestingly, the ratings were no surprise.

The Ministry of Education and School Districts should have similar comprehensive reviews based on some defensible methodology and respond with appropriate action to the more poorly rated schools to understand the cause and fix them.

So just to clarify - it appears you accept as valid and accurate the organization you acknowledge to have a biased viewpoint OVER two organizations that actually have vested interests in result/quality improvement? These 2 may have issues (also), but it appears that you have rejected that possibility for the Fraser Institute altogether.
If you examine the Provincial Curricula you will find the complete student evaluation methodology listed, and it is rather complex - resulting however in the problem that one objective test cannot evaluate all the criteria.
Sigh - and that's the issue.
The business model of productivity and success definition doesn't work with human (children's) variables, and a curriculum that goes beyond a 'simple' scored test.
Unfortunately the suggestion many get from these 'reports' is that a certain types of schools, or certain specific schools have seemingly cornered the market on successful education. That is unfortunate as it is hardly an honest or valid assumption, although it seems to have a biased element as it's framework.
I'm also puzzled by your remark that you weren't surprised at some schools results in 'your test'.
Could that be due to multiple factors you understood and processed in your rationales for the results? Are/were there concerns or factors within the feeder community (socio-economic, class size, school size, ESL, high-needs students, etc) OR is it simply because you 'knew' those schools wouldn't do well on the test as certain other schools?
Just asking . . .

[Glacier]

If the public school system would pay private school wages, class sizes would go down, more teaches would be hired, schools would remain open, and the learning environment would improve for students -- all with the same money currently dumped into education.

[Urbane]

I would suspect the truth to be somewhere between Fraser Institute spin & BCTF spin.

The Fraser Institute rates schools on the basis of the FSA test and of course the ratings should be taken with a huge grain of salt. I think that most of us understand the socioeconomic factors that influence the results. Most of us also understand that standardized tests like the FSA can be useful and KGT mentioned a few months ago that the BCTF and the government have been working together on a new standardized test that will replace the FSA. If KGT happens to see this perhaps she can update us.

[LoneWolf_53]

If the public school system would pay private school wages, class sizes would go down, more teaches would be hired, schools would remain open, and the learning environment would improve for students -- all with the same money currently dumped into education.

This is an interesting read and four years old to boot............ http://business.financialpost.com/execu ... ant-afford

The situation here isn't all that different.

[jamapple]

The Fraser Institute rates schools on the basis of the FSA test and of course the ratings should be taken with a huge grain of salt. I think that most of us understand the socioeconomic factors that influence the results. Most of us also understand that standardized tests like the FSA can be useful and KGT mentioned a few months ago that the BCTF and the government have been working together on a new standardized test that will replace the FSA. If KGT happens to see this perhaps she can update us.

You're right, taken with a grain of salt, but you also say it can be useful. Some say it's totally useless. My point is how would any school react if they were high on the list? The point I'm making is that the high ranking ones see no problem with the Fraser Institute findings, but of course, naturally, the lower ones would be *bleep* off. I have seen in the past, schools ranked low then made drastic improvements. I'll bet they never complained about the findings when they were ranked higher.
I've come to the conclusion there are good schools, and there are bad ones.

[rustled]

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-story-162287-3-.htm#162287

A few interesting things in report card especially in light of recent school closures in South Okanagan an public schools class sizes.......
1. independent and private schools with smaller classes continue to score better than public schools. Lots of talk about investing in education. Class size at elementtry and secondary schools levels would be a good start. ...

Perhaps, but the vast majority of children sent to independent schools are in families who put a very significant value on their children's education. How much of the difference is due to class size, and how much of it is due to what's going on at home?

Family values also impact whether or not any child will exclude from the FSA in support of the BCTF's request, whether or not they will go on to post-secondary, etc.

It's an apples-to-oranges comparison from the get-go.

You'll see similar differences between public school districts, where children of well-paid workers without post-secondary see less need for post-secondary. And across school districts, now that we've allowed people to enroll their children outside a catchment area. Parents who are (rightly or wrongly) displeased with what's happening in their local schools transfer their children instead of working to strengthen their local schools, and they often encourage other like-minded parents to do the same.

The best use anyone can make of this report is to compare "our" school to one with similar socioeconomic factors but a better rank, and ask "How might we improve? Is there something they're doing that we could learn from?"

Whether we're parents, teachers, or admin, that should be what where we focus our energies. Attacking or defending the Fraser Institute, the BCTF, the report card, the FSAs is a fruitless waste of time.

[Urbane]

You're right, taken with a grain of salt, but you also say it can be useful. Some say it's totally useless. My point is how would any school react if they were high on the list? The point I'm making is that the high ranking ones see no problem with the Fraser Institute findings, but of course, naturally, the lower ones would be *bleep* off. I have seen in the past, schools ranked low then made drastic improvements. I'll bet they never complained about the findings when they were ranked higher.
I've come to the conclusion there are good schools, and there are bad ones.

I know that districts that haven't done that well with FN students have looked at the FSA results to see which districts have done better. They've looked further to see what strategies were used in those districts and adopted them. That's just one example so standardized tests can be useful. Using the results to make definitive comparisons between and among districts is another matter though.

[The Green Barbarian]

So just to clarify - it appears you accept as valid and accurate the organization you acknowledge to have a biased viewpoint OVER two organizations that actually have vested interests in result/quality improvement?

Which two organizations are you referencing?