Assessing the status of education through different data interpretation

For Prince Rupert schools it’s a case of ask a different think tank, get a different result. That in a nut shell is what we can make of a new study released this week, that finds that Prince Rupert schools may be found in the upper levels of the provincial rankings.

This latest survey, School Grades: Identifying British Columbia's Best Schools compiled by David Johnson, a Professor of Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University and the Education Policy Scholar at the C. D. Howe Institute, seems to be diametrically opposed to the ones we are used to reading over from the Fraser Institute.

This should not be a terrible surprise, for after all, the C. D. Howe Institute is considered slightly more to the left, than the right wing Fraser Institute. A mindset that is not lost on local educators.

The C. D. Howe survey used results of standardized test scores from the Foundation Skills Assessments much like the Fraser Institute does, but weighed in a number of other factors that included the socio-economic characteristics of the students attending local schools. Creating what would be a more level field for assessment of educational achievement.

Needless to say, the results as promising as they seem to be for the Rupert schools has been greeted with applause from some local educators, who feel that the CD Howe Institute study is less partisan in their study of education than the Fraser Institute and more balanced in its approach.

The Fraser Institute reports for secondary and elementary schools will be released later in the spring, when once again the debate over education will heat up, this time with opposing viewpoints to provide the talking points.

The Thursday Daily News featured some of the details of the C. D. Howe report and the impressions that it left on Principal Steve Riley of Roosevelt Park school..

Rupert schools at the top of provincial rankings
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Thursday, February 21, 2008

Pages one and three

A new study released by the C.D. Howe Institute ranks some of Prince Rupert's elementary schools near the top in the province, based on a new way of comparing standarized test scores.
The study, School Grades: Identifying British Columbia's Best Schools conducted by David Johnson, Professor of Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University and Education Policy Scholar at the C.D. Howe Institute, identifies which schools are doing better or worse than expected given the socioeconomic characteristics of their students.

By removing the influence of local socioeconomic factors from each school's performance, the CD Howe Institute feel their analysis gives parents, teachers and educators a better way to assess a school's performance.

"The CD Howe Institute out of Toronto is much less partisan than the Fraser Institute, and, by using the same Foundation Skill Assessment scores for all the schools across B.C., they then tried to compare like with like," said Steve Riley, principal of Roosevelt Park Elementary school.

"What they were trying to do is level the playing field. So they took all the social and emotional information that's available through various ministries in areas like the economic and social situation of kids, and made a baseline. They set what the expectations could be of students in all schools, and how many would be at or above that expectation."

In the case of Roosevelt and numerous other schools in Prince Rupert, after taking the social and emotional levels of children into account, the CD Howe Institute found that students were far exceeding what the expectations should be for students at particular schools. The results in the study are a combination of FSA scores from the 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 school years, and in many cases show positive results for District 52 schools.

In the case of Grade 4 students, Conrad Elementary scored in the 97th percentile for schools in B.C. found to be similar socioeconomic environments, while Roosevelt ranked in the 92nd percentile of like schools and far exceeded their Predicted Success Rate of 37.1 per cent.

Westview's Grade 4 students ended up the 93rd percentile, and Pineridge Elementary students scored in the 73rd percentile, exceeding their Predicted Success Rate of 57.1 per cent.

For Grade 7 students, Lax Kxeen Elementary was about as close as they could get to the top of the province for their socioeconomic grouping, as the CD Howe Institute analysis placed them in the 99th percentile, shattering their Predicted Success Rate of 56.1 per cent. Similarly, Pineridge Grade 7 students ranked in the 98th percentile and exceeded the Predicted Success Rate of 54.5 per cent.

Also astounding was Roosevelt Grade 7 students achieving a 95th percentile placement and fairing much better than the 27 per cent Predicted Success Rate. Seal Cove students also fared much better than predicted, surpassing their Predicted Success Rate of 40 per cent and landing in the 98th percentile for like-schools. Westview's Grade 7 students also ranked in the 98th percentile, despite being predicted to achieve a 70.5 per cent success rate.

The CD Howe Institute maintains that standardized tests in British Columbia are a useful exercise for school comparisons, as long as the data is used in an appropriate manner and placed into the correct context.

"The problem with the Fraser Institute is that they're unashamedly right-wing and they have an agenda that they want to hoist on the rest of us," said Riley.

"The most infuriating thing about the Fraser Institute is that it's bad educational and social science.

"It's comparing apples and oranges, and it's a very hurtful way to do it as well."