Post-Secondary Schools Report Card

[Rosemary1]

http://www.castanet.net/news/Poll/17370 ... eport-card


As with most of its studies, the Fraser Institute provides extensive explanations on its methods including any limitations and caveats that help put ratings in context .- details that many do not take the time to read and digest. Like any studies they may not be the ultimate word on school performance. Yet to dismiss them entirely is narrow minded -though I can see why some self serving groups may not approve of any kind of ratings. Likely the same naysayers that also dismiss the provincial FSA as having no value . Parents need all the tools and information they can get to help them understand the performance of the school their kids march off to each day. Would parents be prepared to pay tuition for post secondary institution without doing some research on how that institution compared to others? Our children can spend as many as 13 of their most formative years in elementary and secondary schools. The more information that available, can also help identify strategies to help raise performance of public schools that are lagging. Perhaps naysayers would like to suggest a better system to assess school performance?

[bob vernon]

Just another part of the right wing's never-ending search for justification of their greed. Private schools should get ZERO funding from the public. Not a cent.

[Urbane]

http://www.castanet.net/news/Poll/173707/Poll-grading-report-cardhttp://www.castanet.net/news/Poll/173707/Poll-grading-report-card


As with most of its studies, the Fraser Institute provides extensive explanations on its methods including any limitations and caveats that help put ratings in context .- details that many do not take the time to read and digest. Like any studies they may not be the ultimate word on school performance. Yet to dismiss them entirely is narrow minded -though I can see why some self serving groups may not approve of any kind of ratings. Likely the same naysayers that also dismiss the provincial FSA as having no value . Parents need all the tools and information they can get to help them understand the performance of the school their kids march off to each day. Would parents be prepared to pay tuition for post secondary institution without doing some research on how that institution compared to others? Our children can spend as many as 13 of their most formative years in elementary and secondary schools. The more information that available, can also help identify strategies to help raise performance of public schools that are lagging. Perhaps naysayers would like to suggest a better system to assess school performance?

Very well said Rosemary! The FI ratings do have serious limitations but they still provide data that can be useful. One quick example: I see that both Mount Boucherie and Rutland Senior, in recent years, have had disappointing results. Might that have something to do with the timetables in those schools? The students in those schools take two classes a day so students are sitting in math, or English, or science for a long time. OKM and KSS have done much better in recent years and they each have a more traditional timetable (4 classes a day rather than 2). We can talk about demographics of course but I think these results (again, not just this year but over time) should prompt the district to ask questions about the timetables in schools doing poorly. There are other examples as well but that's just one example of how the FI ratings, limited as they are, can be useful.

[bob vernon]

"We'd be delighted to offer a place at Royal Uppercrust to your older daughter. She has an IQ of 160. But we feel your younger daughter would be more appropriately placed in the public school system because of her mild dyslexia."