Two of Lac La Biche’s schools, J.A. Williams and Ecole Plamondon, have both received bad grades by the Fraser Institute and were named as two out of 40 high schools across Alberta with consistently poor academic results and showing no improvement over the past five years.
The Fraser Institute came out with their annual– and often controversial– report card last week, which looked at 2009-2010 student grades, passing rates and percentage of exams failed. According to the report, the average exam mark shows JAWS students receiving an average 54.4 grade, while Ecole Plamondon students received a 56.9 grade average.
The report also issues a number based on the overall scoring of the school, but both Ecole Plamondon and JAWS walked away with dismal results, with Plamondon receiving a 4.7 out of 10 and JAWS receiving a lesser grade of 2.2.
“I looked at the [overall] results and thought ‘Gee, I wish it was an 8 or 9 out of 10’ but I know that all of the variables haven’t been accounted for. It’s an interesting statistic but it’s not completely accurate,” said Morris Holota, principal of Ecole Plamondon, adding that the report failed to looked at the social demographics of each of the schools.
Northern Lights School Division officials agree, saying although the Fraser Institute does evaluate student grades and the school division does take the results into consideration, the report is not a complete picture.
“It is a partial snapshot. They get their results from standardized testing,” said Roy Ripkens, associate superintendent with NLSD. He adds that the method of evaluating the schools is flawed and that the rankings never take in all of the socio-economical factors.
But Fraser Institute representatives say that’s the whole point of the test, to only look at grades and to not include social factors as an evaluating aspect when looking at schools across the province.
“We believe that it is very important to compare on actual results rather than them being affected by social and economic factors,” said Peter Crowley, Director of School Performance Studies with the Fraser Institute. He adds that although the results are often criticized by school administration and teachers, school staff should be looking at how to improve rather than looking at the “unfairness” of the testing.
“They need to ask themselves why they can’t improve. These 40 schools may well be doing their very best and I know they are hardworking and have the kids’ best interest at heart, but what if they simply don’t know how to overcome their challenges? This is a pressing issue and they need to do something now.”