AIMS Annual Report Card on Western Canadian High Schools
The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy are pleased to release the first ever Report Card on Western Canadian High Schools. The report card ranks high schools from Manitoba and Saskatchewan based on the AIMS model, which has been used in Atlantic Canada for almost a decade.
The Report looks at school performance in the 2005-06, 2006-07, and 2007-08 school years. Every school community faces unique challenges. The AIMS model adjusts the performance reports to incorporate these challenges, levelling the playing field. Success comes in many shapes and sizes – AIMS/FCPP Report Card on Western Canadian High Schools reflects this.
Saskatchewan: Success comes in all shapes and sizes
The highest ranked school in Saskatchewan was the Englefield School – a small school in a rural area, and its students are from areas with below average wealth compared to the rest of the province.
Schools demonstrating serious deficiencies in one area are not necessarily poorly ranked overall. Central
Butte School received a ranking of 121/200 on Math provincial exams, but ranked 6th overall due to excellent performance in other areas.
“AIMS has worked with all education stakeholders in Atlantic Canada for nearly a decade successfully to create Report Cards that help parents, teachers and schools improve the education in their neighbourhoods,” says Charles Cirtwill, President and CEO of AIMS. “We work to incorporate the information the education establishment makes public, and seek to increase the amount of information made available. The public needs information before they can participate effectively in education improvement. We are pleased to partner with Frontier to bring the Report Card to the Prairies.”
In Atlantic Canada, every province now reports more information than they did when AIMS started releasing its High School Report Cards. The AIMS/FCPP Report Cards on Western Canadian High Schools are expected to improve over time as more data is released by the school system.
“We openly invite parents, teachers and anyone else to suggest any additions that can be made to improve our Report Cards,” says Peter Holle, President of the Frontier Centre. “Our education systems can only improve when the public has more and better information with which to engage in the conversation.”
To view the Base Report featuring links to the complete report card which includes overall and individual ranks and grades, and resources to better understand schools' performance, click here.
For quick access to overall grades and ranks for Saskatchewan, click here.
Manitoba stands out for being secretive about school performance
As a result of the province’s refusal to make more comprehensive data available, Manitoba’s Report Card includes only the moving on rates for grades 10, 11 and 12, and attendance rates for a minority of schools.
The lack of publicly available school level performance data is in stark contrast to every other province in the country says Peter Holle, President of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. ”Manitoba’s Department of Education lacks the transparency and openness required to inform parents, teachers, and taxpayers about how their schools are doing”, says Holle, “and it is regrettable that the Department did not show any willingness over the course of this project to increase the amount of information made available to the public.”
In Atlantic Canada, every province now reports more information than they did when AIMS started releasing its High School Report Cards. The AIMS/FCPP Report Cards on Western Canadian High Schools are expected to improve over time as more data is released by the school system.
“We hope that community concerns will prompt Manitoba’s Department of Education to make the information more publicly accessible in future,” says Charles Cirtwill, President of AIMS. “Our education systems can only improve when the public has more and better information to engage in the conversation.”
To view the Base Report featuring links to the complete report card which includes overall and individual ranks and grades, and resources to better understand schools' performance, click here.
For quick access to overall grades and ranks for Manitoba, click here.
Click here to access the Report Card on Western Canadian High Schools - Manitoba and Saskatchewan sections.