Halton schools rated average, according to Fraser Institute m directors dispute ranking system By KIM ARNOTT Special ta The Champion Halton's scisools are neitiser awe- somne for awful, according to a provmnce-wide ranking of elemen- tary schools released by the Fraser Institute. The riglt-wmng think-tank ranked 2,887 scisools in Ontario based on their resuits on the standardized EQAO (Education Quality and Accountability Office) tests admin- istered in grades 3 and 6. While no Halton scisools appeared intise top 100 scisools on tise report card, neitiser did any appear in thse lower 200. The region's schools - both public and Catisolic - were ranked between 133 and 2,682 is the province. The top 10 ranked schools in Halton consist of seven Catholic and three public schools. Six of the schools are in Burlmngton, three are in Oakville and tise remaining one is in Georgetown. Peter Cowley, director of scisool performance studies at the Fraser Institute, said the ranking is useful for people involved with the educa- tional system. "Today, more and more parents choose from asnong several lhey use the report card's aca- demic indicators to compare scisools and make better deci- sionts.,, However, the director of educa- tion for the Halton District Scisool Board said he was skeptical of tise usefuineas of ranking scisools based on those standardized tests. "If the beat way they have to rank scisool is EQAO scores, then they're missing a whole lot of other variables," said Dusty Papke. While he said the test scores are helpful to the scisool systeus for a number of reasons, Mr. Papke sug- gested it's meaningless to compare Use resuits frous school to school. Test resuits will vary from scisool to school depending on a number of factors, including turnover of staff and students, socio-economic statua of tise scisool population, number of stu- dents wiUsout English as a first Ian- guage and Use placement of special progranss, he said. For example, Use higisest ranking Halton public sehool in Use Fraser Institute study was Burlington's John T. Tuck Scisool, which Ianded at 148th best in Use province. But Mr. Papke noted Usat Tuck is also Use school where tise board clusters its gifted students. Mr. Papke's skepticism about tise report card was echoed by Lou Piovesan, director of education for Use Haton Catholic District Scisool Mxr. Piovesan said lus board sup- ports Use staudardized tests, as well as Use publication of Use results, but tees littie value in ranking scisools based on test results. Like Mr. Papke, he noted Usat ranking doesn't account for a num- ber of important differences Usat exist between scisools. Tise elementary scisool report card was alto rejected by tise Ontario Public Scisool Boards' Association (OPSBA) and tise Council of Directors of Education (CODE). "Boards have always used EQAO resuits to iselp our teacisers and scisools to develop strategies to improve student learning and achievement," sald OPSBA presi- dent Gemr Gershon. "Today's pub- lished ranking, however, under- mines valid evaluation and testing measures; discourages and demor- alizes teachers; and belittles Use efforts of our students." Mr. Papke added Usat he usualy pays littie attention to any informa- tion publisised by Use conservative Fraser Institute, suggesting tise group uses faulty researchs methods and isas an anti-public scisool agen- da. 'Wisatever (Use Fraser institute) produces wiII be in support of Usat agenda," he said. Tise complete report card is available on-ie at www.fraserin- stituteca. Fresh Or .1 ead jgaand Duns " 0 aked daily days JI lin week.1 ABS 4 B2OBSI r fl 4 CUSIO , B , 2004~ BuiBO Rgal I 1 $695 Il - 3 I I . OR F I MU ' VIC E394s:8q 200 SufreSor The Canadlian Champion, Tuosday, June 1, 2004-3 2004 Grand Am SE 1$31939 ý s ls25912 ýSjgýOj