Burnaby's eight public schools and two private schools garnered scores ranging from a low of 4.4 to a high of 8.0 - out of a possible 10 - in this year's Fraser Institute report card on secondary schools in B.C. and Yukon.
The report card, released on Monday, is an overall rating on academic performance, using a variety of factors to score schools and rank them relative to one another.
St. Thomas More, an independent school with about 117 Grade 12 students took the high city score of 8.0, ranking 15 out of the 280 schools listed in the report.
Byrne Creek Secondary, with 273 Grade 12 students, was ranked 249 out of 280, with an overall score of 4.4.
Parents' income (combined) ranged from a parallel low of $43,500 at Byrne Creek to $64,700 at St. Thomas More.
The other schools in the city were ranked as follows: Alpha Secondary, 223 out of 280, with an overall rating of 4.8; Burnaby Central, 144 out of 280, with an overall rating of 5.9; Burnaby Mountain, 93 out of 280, with a rating of 6.7; Burnaby North, 80 out of 280, with a rating of 6.9; Burnaby South, 181 out of 280, with a rating of 5.4; Cariboo Hill, 157 out of 280, with a rating of 5.7; Moscrop, 98 out of 280, with a rating of 6.6; and Carver Christian School, 198/280 with a rating of 5.3.
The rankings have been criticized over the years for not adequately taking into account factors that impact academic outcomes, such as the number of English as a second language students, special needs students, refugee students and poverty levels among the school populations. For example, Byrne Creek Secondary has a higher ratio of students who are recently arrived refugees, many of them from home countries struck by war, natural disasters and poverty where formal education may have been extremely limited.
In February, when the institute released its report on B.C. elementary schools, the local head of the teachers' association cautioned against placing too much value in the annual reports.
"We do not produce products. We work with students with varying backgrounds and varying needs," Richard Storch told the NOW at the time, adding that private schools are able to "pick and choose" their students while public schools accommodate a variety of backgrounds and needs.
He also said that low rankings are 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.
Despite the criticisms, the report's authors say it's a tool for parents to use in looking at their child's schools, particularly if a ranking slips over time.
"Our rankings are the No. 1 source for parents who want to find out how their child's school is doing compared to others in their community," said Peter Cowley, Fraser Institute director of school performance studies, in a press release.
This year, as in past years, the top ranked schools are all independent schools, with Vancouver's York House, Crofton House and Little Flower Academy taking the top 3 spots.
The schools are ranked on a number of categories, including exam marks in Grades 10, 11 and 12; the number of exams failed; graduation rates; the difference between female and male student scores in certain exams; and other indicators. The report also lists the percentage of students who are ESL, special needs and French immersion, as well as the average parents' income in the school, and past rankings to 2007.
