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Public elementary school cracks top 10 think-tank ranking
VANCOUVER/CKNW (AM980)
Laura Baziuk | Email news tips to laura.baziuk@corusent.com
3/4/2013

A public school has broken into the top 10 list of elementary schools, according to the Fraser Institute's annual rankings.

West Bay Elementary in West Vancouver comes in at number 10 – the sole public school in the top 20.

The think tank's Peter Cowley, who authored the report card, says another facility that continues to do well is Corpus Christi in east Vancouver.

"A dedicated staff, probably a succession of strong principles and an active community – that would be what I would think is going on there."

The Metro Vancouver schools among the top 20 fastest improving are mostly private and in Surrey, but the public ones include McLeod Road, Latimer Road and Mountainview Montessori.

And across the province, three of the top fast-improving schools are in Cranbrook.

The controversial rankings are based on the Foundation Skills Assessments taken in grades 4 and 7.

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  1. speakup posted on 03/04/2013 11:34 AM
    Controversial indeed!!!!
    Imagine TESTING and MEASURING in SCHOOLS?????
    OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!!

    Do NOT allow the BCTF to stop the FSA's
    Anything worth doing is worth measuring!!!
    1. DougF_4971 posted on 03/04/2013 12:35 PM
      @speakup There are several issues with the FSA tests. To list a few...
      1. Teachers and administrators use valuable class time to prep students for the FSA tests.
      2. The test section that evaluates a student's writing is a farce. Students are often provided multiple opportunities to write this test section with only their "best" answer submitted.
      3. The Fraser Institute's ranking system presents a false general belief that school 'A' must be better than school 'B'.

      Standardized testing has a place in our public schools. That said, we need to replace the FSA with a better option.

      More importantly, the public needs to develop an understanding of what these tests can and can not do. With a balanced perspective, we get a more accuarate and complete view of how our schools, teachers, and kids are doing.
    show more replies
  2. AldinaI posted on 03/04/2013 03:31 PM
    The #1 reason private schools score higher on FSA tests is that those schools CHOOSE their students while public schools take ALL students. Private schools sometimes have entrance exams. Parents of private school students are paying DIRECTLY to their school so they make sure their kids are doing their homework and studying. That doesn't always happen in public school. (example: This morning, in one of my classes, TWO of 30 kids did their homework.)

    Peter Cowley may speak well of Corpus Christi but my niece went there, and she's BOMBING her first year of post-secondary (and, yes, she was on the "honour roll", whatever that means at that school.)

    Speakup: considering your venom, your ability to write, and your strong dislike for public school teachers, did you go to private school?
    1. commonsense posted on 03/04/2013 04:42 PM
      @AldinaI So are parents the problem then? You say that parents invest more when they pay for private education. What about independent education? Where the government funds 50% of their students.
    2. commonsense posted on 03/05/2013 05:18 PM
      @AldinaI So what? Don't have a response?
    show more replies
  3. rclr posted on 03/05/2013 06:56 AM
    "a succession of strong principles" - hopefully it is the strong principals at those schools that had the strong principles...
    1. speakup posted on 03/05/2013 01:10 PM
      @rclr too bad princiPALS are no longer PALS tp the kids
      It is all about self-serving reputations and 'clean records'
      such as NO BULLYING in MY SCHOOL!!

      check out your neighbourhood elementary schools -
      kids are barely allowed to breath outloud
      No tag (may get hurt) - no ball bouncing (someone may get hurt) - only 10 pumps on the swing (then someon elses turn) - no flip lops at school (too noisey) ......it gets worse - oh but you wanna be LGBTQ - come join the CLUB........twisted and nuts on every turn!
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