Fraser Institute News Research: B.C. elementary schools can improve student performance despite challenges

VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 21, 2025 /CNW/ - The Fraser Institute today published the annual rankings of British Columbia elementary schools, the most easily accessible tool for parents to compare the academic performance of the province's schools.

The Report Card on British Columbia's Elementary Schools 2024  ranks 950 public and independent elementary schools based on 8 academic indicators derived from the provincewide Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) results.

"The report card offers parents information they can't easily get anywhere else, about how schools perform over time and how they compare to other schools in B.C.," said Peter Cowley, report co-author and senior fellow at the Fraser Institute.

Contrary to common misconceptions, the data suggest every school is capable of improvement regardless of type, location and student characteristics.

For example, Polaris Montessori, a public school in Prince George, is one of the fastest-improving schools in the province, rising from a score of 3 out of 10 in 2019 to 6.3 in 2023.

Likewise, Harwin Elementary, a public school in Prince George, is one of the fastest-improving schools (rising from 2.9 in 2019 to 5.4), despite 36.5 per cent of the school's students being English Language Learners.

"We often hear that schools can't improve student performance because of the communities and students they serve, but the evidence suggests otherwise," Cowley said.

For the complete results on all ranked schools and to compare the performance of different schools, visit www.compareschoolrankings.org.

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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org

SOURCE The Fraser Institute

MEDIA CONTACT: Peter Cowley, Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute; Drue MacPherson, [phone] ext. 721, [email protected]