The Fraser Institute released its annual – and controversial – elementary school rankings on the morning of February 6, and once again North Coast schools are largely in the bottom half of the rankings.
Itd be interesting to see how they rank their liberal friends ridings as opposed to ndp ridings. Fraser institute is the most biased shitbox organization.
Once again Annunciation School is, by far, the best performing school in Prince Rupert, ranking 81st out of 860 in the province, highest in the NW and 2nd highest north of Kelowna.
This school deserves some recognition for how well it has performed over the years…it is consistently ranked high and all of the teachers and admin at that school should be commended for the great job they do year in and out, since they are so often sneered at by their peers in the district. That school has excelled at everything they have done from sports to music to academics. Good job Annunciation!!
And before people attack me…I think ALL teachers in Prince Rupert should be commended for the great job they do…but Annunciation is often forgot and hardly mentioned, and they ranked well here, so that is why I singled them out.
Yes all teachers should be commended, however the playing field is not exactly the same to compare SD 52 to Annunciation for several reasons. First off the school size for Annunciation is 210 total compared to ?? in SD 52. Also parents pay a fee to send their children to this school, there are no services per say for a child with severe learning disabilites other than extra reading help etc. Do all the kids in Annunciation get tested or only the ones who don’t have any issues? Yes I agree they excel at sports and other areas however, when you only pick the best to play on your team and not have a mix,only the very best what are we teaching our kids in terms of fair play?? Don’t get me wrong I have sent my kids there from K-6 and the experince was not that bad for me … however there are lots of people who have issues that don’t get any resolve to. Not saying this doesn’t happen elsewhere just my personal opinion. For the most part the teachers deserve kudos. I find in the regular school system, there is hardly any respect by the SD and families for what teachers have to do to accomplish a days teaching. ( don’t think it is this way at Annunciation but may be wrong) when I went to school, if I got in trouble in school i got it 3x worse at home … needless to say I tried to not get in trouble! Kids swear today sell drugs openly in school WTH do we as parents need to step in and become sheriffs for the SD? It is very troubling the state our schools are in I must say.
Yes parents do have to pay tuition for their children to go to Annunciation, thus there is a MUCH larger emphasis on the parents part to ensure their child is excelling…not only that but Annunciation also seems to hold children back once in a while when they feel the student has not met the requirements to move on (ie: you can actually fail a grade and not move ahead with your fellow classmates the next year) thus there is much more of a consequence for the lazy/slack off attitude (not studying, not doing homework, not paying attention in class ect). I believe kids are passed through in the public system in elementary, regardless of how well they are actually doing…there is no accountability there at all in this regard.
I don’t want to say that parents of Annunciation students care more, because the majority of parents with children in the district care as well…but at the end of the day, the parents at Annunciation are forking over thousands to send their kids their (while they continue to be taxed for public schools as well), so perhaps they have much more control of how their child is excelling outside of school (ie: making sure their homework is done, making sure they are understand, ensuring there is good communication between them and the teacher). Thus naturally, Annunciation is going to have good students with lots of parent support.
Not every parent can afford Annunciation (though I know several people making under $30,000 a year, who are sending their children there) and some do not want any sort of religion to be a part of their child’s education (which is totally understandable), but I think the schools overall performance speaks volumes to how well the private/independant school system works and should be something that is celebrated.
As for the size of the school, most classes in Annunciation range from 24 to 30 students, with one or two exceptions. In addition, all students write the test unless their parents do not want them to be writing it for whatever reason, so I highly doubt that Annunciation picks and chooses which students will be writing these tests.
And also what is wrong with picking the best for sports? In Annunciation, you try out to make the team (though I am not sure if this is still how it is done there) and for those who do not make the team, there are intramurals that they can participate in. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this type of system at all. This is the way it is in the real world and IMO makes students want to get even better…if everyone can make the team, where is the need to improve and strive to be the best you can be?
Also, if your kid is selling drugs in school, IMO, this is a MAJOR MAJOR issue that needs to be addressed by the parents AND the district, but certainly MUCH more by the parents. If the parents pay more attention to their children, set rules and ensure their child is following them, perhaps LESS of this would be occurring…and to say that parents don’t need to step in is 100% ridiculous…parents absolutely should be watching their children much more closely, why is it the districts job to raise peoples damn children for them.education STARTS and ENDS in/at the home!
What helps out Annunciation is that it is all but compulsory that parents are involved with their kids education as well as school activities. This makes a big difference. Too many parents feel that since they are paying taxes to support public schools they do not have to be involved in their child’s education after dropping them off at the front door, it is the teachers job. I know that it is tougher now than 30 years ago, for parents, with both parents having to work just to keep their noses above water, but every bit that they can do to keep on top of their kid’s education makes a huge difference.
I remember years ago when Roosevelt was basically at the bottom of these rankings I knew of one single working mother with two kids in that school. Not only did they not end up at the bottom of a bad school but they excelled. When they moved onto high school they were easily in the top 20% of students. That was because their mother was committed to them not falling into the trap of using a “bad” school as an excuse for doing poorly.
That being said, can we stop talking about these idiotic ratings every year. The are utterly useless. They cannot teach us anything, nor offer any help in solving any problems we may have with our education system. Everybody can translate statistics into saying what ever they want them to say. Every year we make a big deal about this dumb ass survey. If we stop paying attention to this maybe they will stop publishing it.
Not to take away from Annunciation but parents are a big key here. There are far too many parents in this town that just don’t give a shit about what their kids do, where they go, or how they do in school. They are the parents of the kids you see roaming the street when they should be in bed on a school night. They are the parents who don’t ensure thier kids are doing thier homework, or help them learn at home.
Where do those kids go to school? Not Annunciation.
To be fair the kids who do well in any school do well because they have family to support them. Many that fall thru the cracks are those who dont’ have family or someone who cares to help them along. That said, it seems that the school system is sorely lacking in family support, yes both parents have to work these days, and yes time is often short but you get out what you put in in my view. So the school needs some parents to help out on the PAC having done the PAC for many years it is usually only a handful of parents that step up. Rather frustrating.