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Studies in Education Policy February 2013 Report Card on Alberta’s Elementary Schools 2013 by Peter Cowley and Stephen Easton COMPARESchoolRankings.ORG Contents Introduction / 3 Key academic indicators of school performance / 5 Other indicators of school performance / 7 Notes / 9 Detailed school reports / 10 How does your school stack up? / 60 Appendix: Calculating the Overall rating out of 10 / 67 About the authors / 69 Publishing information / 70 Supporting the Fraser Institute / 71 Purpose, funding & independence / 72 About the Fraser Institute / 73 Editorial Board / 74 2 Introduction The Report Card on Alberta’s Elementary Schools 2013 boards may also provide useful information.1 Parents (hereafter, Report Card) reports a variety of relevant, who already have a child enrolled at the school pro- objective indicators of school performance. These vide another point of view. indicators are used to calculate an overall rating for The Report Card provides a detailed picture of each school. On the basis of this rating, the schools each school’s academic outcomes that is not easily are ranked. The Report Card brings all of this infor- available elsewhere. Naturally, a sound academic pro- mation together in one easily accessible public docu- gram should be complemented by effective programs ment so that anyone can analyze and compare the in areas of school activity not measured by the Report performance of individual schools. By doing so, the Card. Report Card assists parents 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 ranking help parents choose schools attracts attention. Schools that perform well or show consistent improvement are applauded. The In Alberta, many parents enjoy considerable choice results of poorly performing schools generate concern, regarding the school in which they will enroll their as do those of schools whose performance is deterio- children. Where choice is available, the Report Card rating. This inevitable attention provides an incentive provides a valuable decision-making tool. Because for all those connected with a school to focus on it makes comparisons easy, the Report Card alerts student results. parents to nearby schools that appear to have more However, the Report Card offers more than incen- effective academic programs. Further, parents can tive: it includes a variety of indicators, each of which determine whether schools of interest are improving reports results for an aspect of school perfor mance over time. By first studying the Report Card, parents that might be improved. School administra tors who will be better prepared to ask relevant questions are dedicated to improvement accept the Report Card when they interview the principal and teachers at the as another source of opportunities for improvement. schools they are considering. Of course, the choice of a school should not be Some schools do better than others made solely on the basis of a single source of infor- Knowing that a school’s results require improvement mation. Families choosing a school for their students is the first step. However, to improve a school, one should seek to confirm the Report Card’s findings must believe that improvement is achievable. This by visiting the school and interviewing teachers and Report Card provides evidence about what can be school administrators. Websites maintained by the accomplished. It demonstrates clearly that, even when provincial ministry of education and local school we take into account factors such as the students’ 3 4 Report Card on Alberta’s Elementary Schools 2013 family background, some schools do better than cessful schools and learn from them. By comparing others. This finding confirms the results of research a school’s latest results with those of earlier years, we carried out in other countries.2 It will come as no can see if the school is improving. Reference to overall great surprise to experienced parents and educators provincial results places an individual school’s level of that the data consistently suggest that what goes on achievement in a broader context. in the schools makes a difference to academic results There is great benefit in identifying schools that and that some schools make more of a difference than are particularly effective. By studying the techniques others. used in schools where students are successful, less effective schools may find ways to improve. Comparisons are at the heart Comparisons are at the heart of improvement: of the improvement process making comparisons among schools is made simpler Many elementary-school authorities in Alberta pro- and more meaningful by the Report Card’s indicators, vide students and their parents with report cards that ratings, and rankings. include both the student’s mark and the median mark for each subject in which the student is enrolled. The report cards also show any marks awarded to the You can contribute to the student earlier in the year. Comparative and histori- development of the Report Card cal data like these enable students and parents to see a clearer picture of an individual student’s progress. The Report Card program benefits from the input By comparing a school’s results with those of neigh- of interested parties. We welcome your suggestions, bouring schools or of schools with similar school and comments, and criticisms. Please contact co-author student characteristics, we can identify more suc- Peter Cowley, at [email protected]. Key academic indicators of school performance The foundation of the Report Card is an overall rat- assess not only each school’s performance in a year but ing of each school’s academic performance. Building also its improvement or deterioration over time. on data about student results provided by Alberta Education (the provincial ministry of education), we rate each school on a scale from zero to 10. We base Indicators of effective teaching our overall rating of each school’s academic perfor- mance on nine indicators: Average achievement-test marks These indicators (in the tables Avg test mark) report (1) average achievement-test marks the average percentage achieved by a school’s stu- (percent) in grade-3 language arts; dents on the uniform achievement tests in four core (2) average achievement-test marks subject areas. For each school, each indicator is the (percent) in grade-3 mathematics; average score (expressed as a percentage) achieved by all of the school’s students who completed the (3) average achievement-test marks tests in language arts and mathematics at the (percent) in grade-6 language arts; grade-3 level and language arts, mathematics, sci- (4) average achievement-test marks ence, and social studies at the grade-6 level. (percent) in grade-6 mathematics; Fundamental to the mission of elementary schools (5) average achievement-test marks is teaching its students sound basic skills in reading, (percent) in grade-6 science; writing, and mathematics. Basic literacy and numer- acy are essential building blocks for life-long learn- (6) average achievement-test marks ing. The tests upon which the Report Card is based (percent) in grade-6 social studies; assess students on these dimensions. Examinations (7) the percentage of achievement are designed to achieve a distribution of results tests in (1) to (6) where the results were reflecting the differences in students’ mastery of this below the acceptable standard; course work. Differences among students in abilities, motivation, and work-habits will inevitably have some (8) the difference between male and female impact upon the final results. There are, however, students in their average achievement- recognizable differences from school to school within test mark in grade-6 language arts; a district in the average results on the achievement (9) the difference between male and female tests. There is also variation within schools in the students in their average achievement- results obtained in different subject areas. Such differ- test mark in grade-6 mathematics. ences in outcomes cannot be wholly explained by the individual and family characteristics of the school’s We have selected this set of indicators as they provide students. It seems reasonable, therefore, to include systematic insight into a school’s performance: because the average test marks in these critical subject areas as they are based on annually generated data, we can indicators of effective teaching. 5 6 Report Card on Alberta’s Elementary Schools 2013 Percentage of achievement tests failed In general, how is the school For each school, this indicator (in the tables Percentage doing, academically? of tests failed) provides the rate of failure (as a percent- The Overall rating out of 10 age) on the achievement tests. It was derived by divid- ing the sum of all the above achievement tests written While each of the indicators is important, it is by the school’s students where the score was below the almost always the case that any school does better on acceptable standard by the total number of such tests some indicators than on others. So, just as a teacher written by those students. must make a decision about a student’s overall per- Since language arts, mathematics, science, and formance, we need an overall indicator of school social studies are critical to students’ further intel- performance (in the tables Overall rating out of 10). lectual and personal development, students should, Just as teachers combine test scores, homework, and at the minimum, be able to demonstrate that they class participation to rate a student, we have com- meet the acceptable standard of performance for their bined all the indicators to produce an overall school grade in these subject areas. Schools have the respon- rating. The overall rating of school performance sibility of ensuring that their students are adequately answers the question, “In general, how is the school prepared to do so.

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