April 2009
Re-thinking education – 7th high school report card
For the seventh year in a row, Progress magazine featured the AIMS Annual Report Card on Atlantic Canadian High Schools. This year reporters took a look at education choice.
The Beacon – 29 April 2009
From municipal performance to fiscal policy to health care, this Beacon highlights AIMS most recent work regionally, nationally and internationally.
Report card sees progress
This editorial in the Cape Breton Post highlights the advantages of AIMS annual high school report card. It concludes, "But if nothing else, AIMS has helped erode the encrusted taboos surrounding the assessment of school performance and public access to such data."
Town confused by low marks
AIMS released the first New Brunswick Municipal Performance Report and Hampton was pleased with its rating but confused as to why it did not do better in recreation.
Business NB falls short of target, “creates” only 1700 jobs, or did they?
Business New Brunswick reported creating 1700 jobs last year. Far short of their target of 3000 jobs, citing the economic downturn as the primary reason for missing the 3000 mark, the Minister responsible for Business New Brunswick labeled the results as a significant achievement in the current climate. Business New Brunswick also highlighted that they “maintained“ 4000 jobs, well above their target of 2500. AIMS Executive Vice President Charles Cirtwill, points out, however, that the problem is all of these numbers are pure make believe. In observing that many of these jobs would likely have been created or “maintained” in the absence of government largesse, Cirtwill says , “I'm skeptical of many of these kinds of numbers, no matter how well-meaning they are or how reliable the source is, because of course we will never know whether or not they would have happened without government investment."
Ups and downs of high school report cards
The AIMS 7th Annual Atlantic High School Report Card has a lot people talking. This column in the Chronicle-Herald points out that one of the greatest advantages of the report is that it forces accountability upon our public school system.