FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
14 March, 2011

Halifax/Winnipeg: 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 card can be found online at www.aims.ca. It 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.

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.”

 

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For more information, please contact:

Dr. Rick Audas
Lead Author
Atlantic Institute for Market Studies
709-749-2075
[email protected]

Jamie Newman
Policy Analyst
Atlantic Institute for Market Studies
902-429-1143 ext.230
[email protected]