Armstrong Elementary School is the province’s fastest-improving elementary school, according to the Fraser Institute.
The Vancouver-based think tank has released, as it does every spring, its annual report card of B.C.’s public and private elementary schools, which ranks the 955 schools based on 10 academic indicators derived from the provincewide Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) results.
Data shows Armstrong Elementary climbing from a score of 1.9 (out of 10) in 2014 to 6.1 in 2018. And the school’s Grade 4 students showed significant improvement in reading, writing and math.
“The report card offers parents information they can’t easily get anywhere else, about how their child’s school performs over time and compares to other schools in B.C.,” said Angela MacLeod, senior policy analyst at the Fraser Institute.
RELATED: Vernon Christian School ranks as top local school: Fraser Institute
“Contrary to common misconceptions, the data suggests every school is capable of improvement regardless of type, location and student characteristics.”
School district officials, staff and parents have criticized the rankings over the years, saying it only deals with test results and not things like culture inside the school.
READ ALSO: 16 of 20 fastest improving B.C. schools are public: Fraser Institute
Armstrong Elementary, which is one of four schools ranked from the North Okanagan-Shuswap School District, placed 426 out of 955 overall, the top ranking of the four. Enderby’s M.V. Beattie Elementary was fourth out of the four, ranked at 788/955 in the province.
The top-ranked school in the Vernon School District is St. James private school, which finished 114th, eight spots ahead of another independent school, Vernon Christian.
Top Vernon district public school was Kidston Elementary in Coldstream, which placed 181st. The lowest ranked school was Lavington Elementary at 833.
Full rankings for the North Okanagan are below.
RANKINGS (Brackets indicate overall placing, 2018 score out of 10, and whether up/down from 2017):
VERNON SCHOOL DISTRICT
1…St. James Private School (114/955, 8.0, up from 6.6);
2…Vernon Christian School (122/955, 7.9, same as 2017);
3…Kidston Elementary (181/955, 7.3, up from 6.7);
4…Coldstream Elementary (285/955; 6.8, down from 7.5);
5…Beairsto Elementary (353/955, 6.5, up from 6.2);
6…Hillview Elementary (376/955, 6.4, up from 6.2);
7…BX Elementary (413/955, 6.2, up from 6.1);
8…Okanagan Landing Elementary (541/955, 5.7, same as 2017);
9…Harwood Elementary (633/955, 5.3, up from 5.2);
10..Silver Star Elementary (675/955, 5.1, down from 6.1);
11..Mission Hill Elementary (726/955, 4.8, same as 2017);
12..J.W. Inglis Elementary – Lumby (771/955, 4.5, down from 4.7);
13..Alexis Park Elementary (789/955, 4.4, down from 4.6);
14..Ellison Elementary (802/955, 4.3, up from 3.6);
15..Lavington Elementary (833/955, 4.0, down from 6.7).
NORTH OKANAGAN-SHUSWAP SCHOOL DISTRICT
1…Armstrong Elementary (426/955, 6.1, up from 5.5);
2…Grindrod Elementary (596/955, 5.5, n0 data from 2017);
3…Highland Park Elementary – Armstrong (759/955, 4.6, up from 4.4);
4…M.V. Beattie Elementary – Enderby (788/955, 4.8, down from 4.9).
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