Apologies for the delay in posting to hackingthemainframe, it was just one of those days…
The Fraser Institute released its school performance report card for 2010 on Monday, and Prince Rupert’s public schools did not score well.
Apparently you need an average household income of $112,500 to have a grade 4 student considered “smart”. Who knew?
theglobeandmail.com/news/nat … le1898177/
Crofton House must be shaking. They are no better than Bountiful.
In one chapter of Freakonomics, the authors looked at the results of test scores when results in the U.S. were used as a measurement of school effectiveness. They found that cheating was not uncommon. I will never believe that the kids in Bountiful could score so well.
Even if the scores at Bountiful are legitimate, would you rather have your children attend one of the schools in Prince Rupert or that perfect 10/10 school?
Even if the scores at Bountiful are legitimate, would you rather have your children attend one of the schools in Prince Rupert or that perfect 10/10 school?[/quote]
Aw Geez. Neither.
Crofton House must be shaking. They are no better than Bountiful.
In one chapter of Freakonomics, the authors looked at the results of test scores when results in the U.S. were used as a measurement of school effectiveness. They found that cheating was not uncommon. I will never believe that the kids in Bountiful could score so well.
Even if the scores at Bountiful are legitimate, would you rather have your children attend one of the schools in Prince Rupert or that perfect 10/10 school?[/quote]
Nice try at deflection, but kind of irrelevant to the discussion.
Of more importance is the fact that between this survey (flawed as some believe it is) and the recent revelations in the high school completion rate levels that should raise alarm bells with the SD and featuring hard data that is hard to really rebut, there would seem to be some problems with the way that this School District is providing education in the city.
(I guess the other question would be how many kids can fit into Annunciation)
While there are any number of factors involved in poor performance, bad management decisions, some failings at the teaching level, poor or non existent parenting, year after year of poor results must suggest that there is a need to rethink what they are doing around here, don’t you think?
All I know is if I were a parent of a kid attending Westview I would be wondering why the School District is inclined to close the one school that at least on the curve of averages shows the most promise of the public schools in the community.
Closing schools seems like an easy answer to the problem I guess, reduce the number of schools that can show up in a survey and hope like heck that the redistribution will boost results elsewhere.
Considering the money that the SD has spent on surveys, realignment plans , payouts to departing admin officials and all of that, the results if divined by the FSA’s and Fraser Institute reports and all of that would suggest that they need to figure out a better plan, as this one doesn’t seem to be working very well.
Good to see Annunciation School performing so well, I believe that is one of their highest rankings (49th) in some time.
That school is a valued asset in this community and the middle school certainly has threatened or impacted its future in this city since the school relies on studen tuition to keep itself going. Parents need to make the wise choice and keep their children in this school right through grade 7. I wonder how much of an impact that the Middle School is going to have on its retention of Grade 6 and 7 students…hopefully their numbers do not fall too much…perhaps the opposite could happen…who knows at this point. I don’t know if that school could survive running K to 5 grades.
The middle school is the worst decision made by SD 52, perhaps ever…the school district is in a state of disarray at the moment…with most problems starting from the top down.
Not only are all of the elementary schools now going to be even more under capacity (I mean they are losing two grades of students) but now this puts parents of children in Grade 6 and 7 at Annunication into a predicament; do they keep their children in that school and risk alienating them from the rest of the Grade 6 and 7 that are all together at the Middle School?
Personally I give the Fraser Institute another fail.
Looks like Rupert’s Annunciation School was the highest ranked school in Northern BC.
Ah that’s the easy way out, while there are some problems with the way they assemble their data, the results would seem to indicate a trend, showing a problem with the way the public system is delivering educational services.
The SD board and admin will appreciate your thought though, best to stick a head in the sand than address a problem, it seems to be the Prince Rupert way.
The Fraser Institute is a business/corporate political organization that produces studies that support their position. This has less to do with the facts, than it does the aspirations of those who promote it. They even support a testing regimen that does nothing but promote their agenda.
Face it. They would prefer that schools produce students that will fit into their business/corporate model.
[quote=“Soggy”]The Fraser Institute is a business/corporate political organization that produces studies that support their position. This has less to do with the facts, than it does the aspirations of those who promote it. They even support a testing regimen that does nothing but promote their agenda.
Face it. They would prefer that schools produce students that will fit into their business/corporate model.[/quote]
Well I don’t buy all of their data collection aspects, but a test result is a test result, one way or another the achievement level seems to be less here than in other districts.
How do you account for the low level of high school completion then, can’t really throw that one at the Fraser Institute.
While I don’t hold the FSA results as a bottom line determining factor, it’s in reality just another snapshot of the academic results across the province.
It would seem that in the last number of years the actual goal of educating the kids seems a tad lost, what with all the turmoil and turnover at the admin offices, the various surveys that offered different theories on how to deliver education, the most current one the decision which was a flip flop (ie: the middle school that at one time wasn’t on the radar and now is set to open), closing the neighbourhood schools to create larger warehouses if you will.
All of that, has to be taken into account, you can’t just discard a bad result from wherever it comes from because you don’t like a particular political agenda, to do so, just it would seem to ensure that the same path will repeat itself over and over again, much like it seems to have over the recent years.
You combine these annual reports with the completion rates and I’m sorry, but maybe the School Board needs to start asking questions as to why the results always seem to come out the same.
Maybe explain how what they are currently doing is the right path, because it would seem that somehow the results aren’t offering a testimony to their vision.
I’m not questioning the results; I’m questioning how they explain these results to fit their political agenda. Liars and figures …
Promoting the FSA testing is part of that agenda. That is part of the problem, teaching to that crappy test to the detriment of all.
As far as completion rates are concerned, in attempting to help my kids with their homework I realized how mind-numbingly boring many of the subjects have become compared to when I was in school. I’ve also had the impression that less emphasis on the basic three "R"s has also contributed as has poverty levels in the various areas.
Aw geez.
Whatever you might think of the FSA, the present leadership has taken our students to the lowest performance yet.
This means and matters to some.
[quote=“PinchLoaf”]Aw geez.
Whatever you might think of the FSA, the present leadership has taken our students to the lowest performance yet.
This means and matters to some.[/quote]
The present leadership of whom or what are you referring to, the Fraser Institute, the Province, the School District …?
Aw geez… and who might be exempt from this critique?
Has there been good decision-making at any of these levels?
But what has our local governing body done that’s outstanding? Merely average? Well below par but are nice people?
“after years of bad scores from Prince Rupert schools, Hauptman outright refuses to comment on them”
are you kidding me?
The superintendent refuses to comment on the issue? Once more I am grateful that my child goes to annunciation and no way will she be attending the middle school. Fingers crossed Annunciation does go to grade 8.
Does it even things up if I have consistently given the Fraser Institute a failing grade ?
[quote=“Orithia”]“after years of bad scores from Prince Rupert schools, Hauptman outright refuses to comment on them”
are you kidding me?
The superintendent refuses to comment on the issue? Once more I am grateful that my child goes to annunciation and no way will she be attending the middle school. Fingers crossed Annunciation does go to grade 8.[/quote]
Aw geez. Hauptman then is suggesting to parents, “I am the only one who has a qualified opinion on student achievement”. “Things are just fine, believe me.” "You worry needlessly."
Has the puppet master, Stignant said this or has Hauptman reached this conclusion on her very own?
I don’t think I was deflecting anything. My point was that putting Bountiful at the top of the list is ludicrous. It points out the absurdity of judging a school based on one test score. I do not believe that Bountiful school is anywhere near a top school so why would I believe that any school is rated correctly. There is more to a school than just the FSA results.
On top of that, I would actually question those test scores. It would seem obvious that many schools - like Bountiful - have a vested interest in doing well. Who knows who wrote the tests and under what conditions. Who knows how much drill is done prior to the tests to ensure success perhaps at the expense of other untested aspects of the curriculum. Pure speculation of course, but just call me a skeptic.
As well, I am extremely leery of numbers and how they are used. A few years back, I attended a district meeting in which we were discussing how to get more students to take the more challenging courses like English 12 instead of Communications 12, allowing students a greater choice after high school. A laudable enough goal. However, if you take the best students from Comm 12 and put them in English 12, the exam scores for both courses will go down. As capable as they may be, they are not likely to surpass the average English score (or they would have been in English to start with) and by removing them from the Comm exam, their top scores in that course would be removed, dropping the average there.
Of course the reverse can and does happen. Discourage kids from taking the government examable courses and the exam results will show a marked improvement. So what should a school do? Challenge the kids and look bad with poorer test scores or discourage kids and look good with improved test scores.
Finally I have yet to see a study that compares how a school does with a group of kids over time. It is extremely unlikely that an elementary school team will beat a high school team. That does not mean that the coaching is inferior or the players are not making improvements. In fact the coaching may be better and the improvements more pronounced than for the high school team. We know that certain factors put some schools at an advantage over others which the test scores will show. But what would happen if we compared the improvements made by the students instead of the raw scores on tests. I will bet that gap between so-called good schools and so-called bad schools would drop dramatically.
None of the above suggests that Prince Rupert doesn’t have room for improvement. I am not an apologist for the district. A lot more can and should be done. I am just sick and tired of the discussion occurring around FSA scores and the Fraser Institute rankings.
Well said Dwhite.