Timothy Christian school was ranked 11th provincially by the Fraser Institute this week.

The private kindergarten to Grade 12 school received an overall rating of 8.7 out of 10, down slightly from its 9.3 rating last year.

Fraser Institute’s report card on B.C.’s secondary schools compares 284 public and private schools on performance in annual provincial exams, graduation rates, grade-to-grade transition rates, and other factors.

Highroad Academy and Unity Christian, two other private K–12 schools, were ranked 26th and 77th in the province respectively, their overall ratings of 8.2. and 7.0 on par with previous years.

The city’s public schools ranked lower. Sardis Secondary came out 117th, Chilliwack Senior 227th, and GW Graham 236th.

One factor contributing to these rankings is the falling graduation rate at all three schools. At Sardis Secondary, 93 per cent of students graduated from high school in 2012, down from 97 per cent in 2008.

At Chilliwack Senior, 91 per cent graduated, a six per cent decline from five years ago. And at GW Graham, 85 per cent of students end up graduating, a ten-point drop over five years.

Fraser Institute school rankings have faced criticism for assessing the performance of a school without regard to socioeconomic factors, such as parental income and the percentage of students with special needs. This year’s report card lists these demographics, but does not use them in the determination of ranking.

The percentage of students with special needs is marked “not applicable” for Chilliwack’s independent schools, and stands at 8–11 per cent for public schools.

Average parental income is $68,367 for the public schools in Chilliwack, and $100,233 for independent schools.

Chilliwack Progress