Once again, private schools have topped the list for Burnaby in the Fraser Institute's annual ranking of B.C. elementary schools.
St. Michael's, Holy Cross, John Knox Christian and Our Lady of Mercy were the top four Burnaby schools ranked by the right-wing think-tank. Buckingham was the top rated public school, ranking fifth for Burnaby, or 81 out of 860 B.C. schools.
The bottom three were Stoney Creek and Maywood (tied at 635) and Morley at 720.
Every year, the Fraser Institute rates B.C.'s public and private schools, mainly based on results from the Foundation Skills Assessment, a set of provincewide tests in reading, writing and math.
The report is intended to give the public a way to compare schools' performance.
Richard Storch, president of the Burnaby Teachers' Association, said the union branch does not place value in the rankings, which only work if you are evaluating products.
"We do not produce products. We work with students with varying backgrounds and varying needs," he said.
Private schools tend to fare better because they can pick and choose their students, Storch added, and low rankings can be demoralizing for schools at the bottom of the list.
"The only thing it does is make you feel crappy, it makes you feel unvalued," he said.
