Crux of the Matter

Congratulations to the staff and students at Britannia Elementary School on Vancouver’s east side!  From a previous school ranking by the Fraser Institute of 2.8 a number of years ago, this year they made in on the honour roll with a 7.5 out of ten. Well done!

What an inspiring example of what can happen when everyone involved in a school makes a commitment to improve.  And, when they do, everyone benefits — clear across Canada because we are now telling their story. And that story is that school rankings, whether they be from the Fraser or C.D. Howe Institutes, can be used as the impetus for change. 

They are not, as I wrote yesterday, a “flawed picture” as suggested by the Ontario Public School Board Association (OPSBA). As Doretta Wilson, Executive Director of the Society for Quality Education pointed out today in an e-mail, there are jurisdictions in this country that are using the school rankings to make a difference and she included the link to the Vancouver Sun article as proof.  

And, make a difference they have. According to Janet Steffenhagen of the Vancouver Sun, Britannia is an inner city school. Half the children are ESL, more than half are aboriginal and the parents’ education is generally below average.  So, how did the staff take the school from a 2.8 ranking to a 7.5? One teacher was inspired to use a controversial “direct-instruction” literacy program called “Reading Mastery.” And, when students started making huge gains, the whole staff decided to use it school-wide spending up to 2 hours every single day on the program.

Memo to OPSBA and the Ontario teachers’ unions. Britannia Elementary School in Vancouver has used the school rankings to improve.  Don’t tell the government, the general public and parents, that it can’t be done. It not only can be done, it has been done.

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Note: Let’s get the news out. Send the link to everyone you know. C/P at With Good Reason.

* Update: It sounds like the B.C. Trustees Association is providing the same kind of spin as OPSBA. For example, the B.C. association published a news release this past Tuesday, May 6th, that stated:

“Last week, the Fraser Institute published its annual Report Card on British Columbia’s Elementary Schools.  BCSTA believes that the conclusions drawn by the Fraser Institute are incomplete and misleading because it ranks schools based on a narrow snapshot of information that fails to reflect the breadth and depth of activities occurring in schools.  Fine arts, sciences, athletics, student citizenship and the success of many other school programs are not reflected in the report.”

“Furthermore, the rankings are potentially harmful to the morale of those who work and learn in BC’s public schools. The report does not take individual school, student population, or other community factors into consideration. The narrow snapshot of data used by the report fails to recognize the significant accomplishments and progress taking place every day in BC’s public schools.”

Clearly, provincial trustee associations need to get off their high horses and represent the taxpayers who voted for them, including the parents, not the teachers’ unions. They also need to read about schools that are benefitting from the school rankings report card because the rankings do not need to be a “narrow snapshot.”

Moroever, tell that to the staff and students at Britannia. And, as far as the students not getting as much Social Studies and other subjects? Unless you can read and write, those courses are not going to do the children any good whatsoever. With well established literacy skills, they will be able to catch up by high school. But, without fully automatic literacy skills, they would likely never catch up.

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