On March 31 the Fraser Institute released their 2011 Report Card on Aboriginal Education, which is based on 2009 numbers from elementary and secondary students, and the results are a bit of a mixed bag for the North Coast.
The high school side of the report card focused on the average provincial exam mark of Aboriginal students, the percentage of exams failed, the difference between the class mark and the provincial exam mark, the graduation rate and the delayed advancement rate for 63 high schools in the province. No school on the North Coast finished in the top 50 per cent of those included, with Charles Hays Secondary leading the way locally with a rank of 47 based on a score of 5.2, down from an average of 5.4 in the past five years. PRSS was not far behind with a score of 4.8, up from the five year score of 4.4, and George M. Dawson in Masset was ahead of only Nisga’a School in New Aiyansh, placing 62nd with a score of 1.5 compared to a five year score of 0.4.
For the elementary school side of the report, the Fraser Institute turned once again the Foundation Skills Assessment for reading, writing and numeracy in grades four and seven, as well as the percent of test scores below expectation and the percent of tests not written. While only 52 schools in the province were included, schools with at least 10 First Nations students enrolled in grades four and seven, Sk’aadgaaNaay in Skidegate was clear and away the best on the North Coast with a second place ranking based on a score of 9.5 out of 10. Two schools in Prince Rupert, Pineridge and Conrad, finished in the top half of all schools with ranking of 11 and 23 respectively, while Lax Kw’alaams was the next highest school with a rank of 35 based on a score of 5.0. Lax Kxeen and Roosevelt Park were also low on the rankings, placing 40th and 43rd respectively based on scores of 4.4 and 4.3.
The full report card can be found online at www.fraserinstitute.org.