Philippine Asian News Today Vol 20 No 08 | Page 15

April 16 - 30, 2018 PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY 15 T eL # (604) 43 9 - 1 113 # 306 - 4603 Kingsway Ave. Metropointe Bldg. Burnaby, BC ( Free parking stalls available) New patients always welcome. (We speak Cebuano, Tagalog & Ilokano.) Dr. Cecile Tumusok-Aparte Independent schools dominate top spots in annual ranking of B.C. elementary schools VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Independent elementary schools in British Columbia continue to outperform the province’s public schools, claiming 80 of the top 102 spots in the Fraser Institute’s annual ranking of B.C. elementary schools released today. The Report Card on British Columbia’s Elementary Schools, 2018 ranks 946 public and independent elementary schools based on 10 academic indicators derived from the provincewide Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) results. “The report card provides parents with information they can’t easily get anywhere else about how their child’s school is performing over time and compared to other schools across the province,” said Peter Cowley, director of school performance studies at the Fraser Institute. Of the top 102 ranked schools provincewide, only 22 are public. And of those 22 schools, nine are located in West Vancouver including the top- ranked Cedardale and West Bay Elementary. Contrary to common misconceptions, according to previous research, families with children enrolled in most independent schools in B.C. have an average (after tax) income only 1.9 per cent higher than parents with children in public schools. “Simply put, differences in parental income do not appear to explain the differences in the overall ratings of independent and public schools,” Cowley said. In addition to the ranking, the report card also spotlights schools that are improving or falling behind. This year, 16 of the 20 fastest- improving schools are public schools. Parkview Elementary in Sicamous— the fastest-improving school provincewide—has improved its overall rating from 2.8 to 6.6 between 2013 and 2017. And Woodland Park Elementary in Surrey improved its overall rating from 5.2 to 7.0 over the same four-year period. “All too often we hear excuses that public schools can’t improve student performance because of the communities and the students they serve, but the evidence suggests otherwise.” Cowley said. For the complete results on all ranked schools, and to easily compare the performance of different schools, visit www.compareschoolrankings.org. ([email protected]) GRAND VILLA CASINO HOTEL BALLROOM OCTOBER 12, 2018 WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM