Report Card on Alberta's Elementary Schools
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FEBRUARY 2005 Report Card on Alberta’s Elementary Schools 2005 Edition Peter Cowley and Stephen Easton Contents Introduction ...................................................................................................3 A measure of academic effectiveness for schools ............................................................6 Other indicators of school perfomance .......................................................................8 Notes ......................................................................................................... 11 Detailed school results ....................................................................................... 12 Ranking the schools ......................................................................................... 81 Appendix 1: Calculating the Overall rating out of 10 ................................................... 95 Appendix 2: Calculating the Valued added indicators .................................................... 97 About the authors ........................................................................................... 99 Acknowledgments ..........................................................................................100 Studies in Education Policy are published periodically throughout the year by The Fraser Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian economic and social research and educational organization. It has as its objective the redirection of public attention to the role of competitive markets in providing for the well-being of Canadians. Where markets work, the Institute’s interest lies in trying to discover prospects for improvement. Where markets do not work, its interest lies in finding the reasons. Where competitive markets have been replaced by government control, the interest of the Institute lies in documenting objectively the nature of the improvement or deterioration resulting from government intervention. The work of the Institute is assisted by an Editorial Advisory Board of internationally renowned economists. The Fraser Institute is a national, federally chartered non-profit organization financed by the sale of its publications and the tax-deductible contributions of its members, foundations, and other supporters; it receives no government funding. 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Editing and design: Kristin McCahon and Lindsey Thomas Martin Typesetting by Nick Murphy Printed and bound in Canada. ISSN 1492–1863 Studies in Education Policy (English print edition). ISSN 1707–2395 Studies in Education Policy (English online edition). Date of issue: February 2005 The Fraser Institute, Fourth Floor, 1770 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, V6J 3G7 For information about membership, please contact the Development Department: in Vancouver • via telephone: 604.688.0221 ext. 586; via fax: 604.688.8539 • via e-mail: [email protected] in Calgary • via telephone: 403.216.7175 or, toll-free 1.866.716.7175; • via fax: 403.234.9010; via e-mail: [email protected]. in Toronto • via telephone: 416.363.6575; • via fax: 416.934.1639. 2 Introduction The Report Card on Alberta’s Elementary Schools: tained by the provincial ministry of education and 2005 Edition (hereafter, Report Card) reports a local school boards may also provide useful infor- variety of relevant, objective indicators of school mation.1 Parents who already have a child enrolled performance. These indicators are used to calculate at the school provide another point of view. an overall rating for each school. On the basis of The Report Card provides a detailed picture of this rating, the schools are ranked. The Report Card each school’s academic outcomes that is not easily brings all of this information together in one eas- available elsewhere. Naturally, a sound academic ily accessible public document so that anyone can program should be complemented by effective pro- analyze and compare the performance of individual grams in areas of school activity not measured by schools. By doing so, the Report Card assists parents the Report Card. when they choose a school for their children and encourages and assists all those seeking to improve their school. The Report Card facilitates school improvement The Report Card can Certainly, the act of publicly rating and rank- help parents choose ing schools attracts attention. Schools that per- form well or show consistent improvement are In Alberta, many parents enjoy considerable choice applauded. The results of poorly performing schools regarding the school in which they will enroll their generate concern, as do those of schools whose per- children. Where choice is available, the Report formance is deteriorating. This inevitable attention Card provides a valuable decision-making tool. provides an incentive for all those connected with Because it makes comparisons easy, the Report Card a school to focus on student results. alerts parents to nearby schools that appear to have But do schools act on this incentive? Preliminary more effective academic programs. Further, par- data from this series of report cards on Alberta’s ents can determine whether schools of interest are elementary schools suggest that they do. The first improving over time. By first studying the Report edition of the Report Card, published in June 2002, Card, parents will be better prepared to ask relevant analyzed each school’s overall rating to determine questions when they interview the principal and whether there was statistically significant change teachers at the schools they are considering. during the four-year period from May 1997 to Of course, the choice of a school should not May 2001. As noted in Table 1, of the 757 schools be made solely on the basis of a single source of included in that edition, 64 (about 8.5 percent of information. Families choosing a school for their total) experienced a decline in their overall rat- students should seek to confirm the Report Card’s ing during the period. In this 2005 edition, just findings by visiting the school and interviewing 41 schools (5.5 percent of total) suffered such a teachers and school administrators. Web sites main- decline during the corresponding period. 3 4 Report Card on Alberta’s Elementary Schools — 2005 Edition Table 1: Number of Alberta’s elementary schools experiencing statistically signifi cant change in the Overall rating Edition of Report Card on Alberta’s ElementaryElementary SchoolsSchools 2002 2003 2004 2005 Total number of schools 757 766 769 748 Declining schools 64 63 54 41 Declining schools (% of total) 8.5 8.2 7.0 5.5 Improving schools 48 43 50 44 Improving schools (% of total) 6.3 5.6 6.5 5.9 As part of the increased scrutiny of comparative Figure 1: Chief Justice Milvain (Calgary) school performance made possible by the Report Card, Trend in Academic Performance it is heartening to see that schools may be responding 5.0 more quickly to any deterioration in their achieve- 4.5 ment levels. Interestingly, the annual percentage of 4.0 schools enjoying improvement has remained relative- 3.5 ly stable during the same period. This would suggest 3.0 that the incentive to overcome a decline is stronger 2.5 Overall rating than the incentive to improve further. 2.0 Some schools have, however, been unable to 1.5 1.0 reverse long-standing negative trends in their overall 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 ratings. Of the 41 declining schools in the 2005 edi- tion, 17 have shown statistically significant four-year Figure 2: Helen E. Taylor (Wembley) deterioration in two or more consecutive editions of Trend in Academic Performance 7.0 the Report Card. Of these, three schools have shown 6.5 declines in Overall rating inin allall fourfour editionseditions ofof thethe 6.0 Report Card. Figures 1, 2, and 3 illustrate the persis- 5.5 tence of these schools’ downward trends. 5.0 Parents whose children’s school is experiencing 4.5 a downward trend in its Overall rating—or in any Overall rating 4.0 of its indicators—should assure themselves that 3.5 the school’s administration and teaching staff have 3.0 in place achievable improvement plans that will 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 reverse the decline in academic achievement. Figure 3: Bishop Savaryn (Edmonton) Trend in Academic Performance 7.0 Some schools do better than others 6.5 6.0 Knowing that a school’s results require improve- 5.5 ment is the first step. However, to improve a school, 5.0 one must believe that improvement is achievable. 4.5 Overall rating This Report Card provides evidence about what