The annual Fraser Institute Report Card on Alberta’s Elementary Schools for 2014 puts some city schools at the top, and some at the bottom.
Edmonton’s Mount Pleasant tied for first with Calgary’s Webber school, both achieving a rating of 9.9.
Clear Water, Master’s and St. Philip from Calgary placed third, fourth and fifth respectively.
Edmonton’s Stratford earned a 9.7 rating for sixth position. Okotoks’s Strathcona-Tweedsmuir followed, also with a 9.7 rating.
Windsor Park school in Edmonton and Calgary’s Westmount and Rundle College round out the top 10.
Author of the reporter, Peter Cowley, said the results should be an inspiration for those schools that did not rate as high.
“Schools that serve parents with modest incomes, schools that have a lot of kids who have have ESL, or who are special needs kids, still do well,” he told CTV News.
“The Report Card shows what is possible. What is being done by educators in schools in Alberta.”
Cowley explained that just 20 per cent of the differences between school ratings could be attributed to family income.
“There are other factors that account for 80 per cent of the differences between schools,” he said, adding that parental involvement and school staff were accountable for a majority of the discrepancy.
He explained that 23 of the 55 schools across the province that had shown improvement were in Edmonton.
However, Calgary schools continue to rank higher than Edmonton schools.
Schools in the bottom 10 of the Report include Edmonton’s St. Gerard with a score of 1.0, Evansdale with a score of 0.8, Balwin with a 0 score and R J Scott also with a 0 score.
Calgary’s Patrick Airlie came in with a 1.1 rank, Cappy Smart got a 0.8 rank and West Dover a 0.5 rating.
Schools in Cleardale (Menno-Simmons), Wabasca (St. Theresa) and Westatenau (Holy Family) were also in the bottom 10.
The Report uses student’s marks on the Provincial Achievement Tests to determine the school’s rank.
With files from Sarah Richter
