By Two & Out

PETERS: Parents should be wary of Fraser Institute’s school ranking system

Mar 22, 2019 | 4:55 PM

THE FRASER INSTITUTE’S annual rankings of BC elementary schools was released earlier this month, and Kamloops schools didn’t do so hot.

Nearly 1,000 B.C. schools are rated by the right wing think tank, both public and private.

St. Ann’s was the first rated Kamloops school at 106, while Pacific Way was the top rated local school in the public district at 143.

It gets worse from there, with the rest of the local schools spread out throughout the list until it finally gets to Arthur Hatton down at 853.

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In a way, the list has some value, and in another way, it has very little value.

The list is compiled using publicly-available data from standardized test results, and as such, it cannot be dismissed as simply someone’s opinion.

It’s no Buzzfeed list.

But it’s no paragon of scientific study, either, and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who takes the rankings into account when thinking about where their children will attend school.

By lumping all schools together into one giant list, the Fraser Institute assumes all students and all schools start out on equal footing.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

Of course, they don’t start out on equal footing.

There are a lot of factors beyond what the school administrations and staffs themselves can control that will go into student performance.

That includes how old and crowded the school is.

Does that sound familiar to Kamloops parents?

It also includes the socio-economic status of the students attending those schools.

Socio-economic factors have been shown to be significant predictors of how well students will do in school.

But perhaps the most significant reason for parents to ignore the Fraser Institute rankings is that they may not say anything at all about your child’s individual situation.

At any school on that list, you can be either happy or unhappy with your child’s academic experience.

If you’re happy, that’s all you need to know about the school.

If you’re not happy, it’s up to you to become your child’s personal advocate until that situation turns around.

Either way, you’ll be looking at your child’s individual situation and ensuring it is working out to their benefit, regardless of where their school places on some list.