Survey Says: Vernon Christian, Kidston Top Local Schools

Vernon Christian is the top Vernon area school in the Fraser Institute’s annual ranking of BC elementary schools.

The private school placed 143 out of the 956 schools surveyed, based on results of the Foundation Skills Assessment tests.

Kidston in Coldstream was the top public school in District 22, in 163.

Beairsto — which specializes in French Immersion — was next in 274.

Alexis Park was the lowest in 816.

As for the North Okanagan Shuswap District, Armstrong Elementary was 841, Highland Park 925 and MV Beattie in Enderby was 948.

The report is authored by Peter Cowley and Stephen Easton.

“The Report Card collects a variety of relevant, objective indicators of school performance into one, easily accessible public document so that anyone can analyze and compare the performance of individual schools. By doing so, the Report Card assists parents when they choose a school for their children and encourages and assists all those seeking to improve their schools,” says a release from the Fraser Institute.

Click here for the full report.

Vernon School District Superintendent Joe Rogers does not put a lot of stock into the rankings.

“The Fraser Institute ranking is a narrow measure that does not include many measures of student success. Our teachers regularly examine their students’ performance through classroom assessments, district assessments, student and parent surveys and provincial assessments.  We set meaningful, measurable goals through an analysis of our results,” Rogers tells Kiss FM in an email.

“The district does not feel it is appropriate or productive to compare schools.  Each school has a unique set of circumstances that make rankings unfair and sometimes harmful,” adds Rogers.

Rogers says each of the District’s schools have developed plans that detail the areas they are working on.

He says the plans at Cherryville are one example.