by Connie Tabbert
Editor
COBDEN — A local principal isn’t too concerned about the rating his school received in the Fraser Institute Report.
As a matter of fact, he’s so not concerned with it, he hasn’t even looked at it.
“That is only one measure of a school’s success,” said Peter Burnette, principal at Cobden District Public School.
“There is so much that happens here that makes this a highly successful school,” he said.
Released Sunday by the Vancouver-based think tank, this Report Card on Ontario’s Elementary Schools 2015 ranks 3,037 public and Catholic schools (and a small number of private schools) based on Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) information derived from province-wide tests of reading, writing, and mathematics skills in the 2013/2014 school year to rank English and French, public, and Catholic elementary schools from across Ontario.
The Fraser report is a narrow focus and very limiting, he said.
“It is not a full picture of the school,” Mr. Burnette said.
There could be any number of reasons the school’s ranking changes from year to year, he said. When gauging success, there are a lot of things to consider, not just one area, he added.
“I know what our scores are,” he said, knowing the ranking is based on certain math and reading tests the students took last year.
In determining the next steps for his students, Mr. Burnette said they are taken from what is daily observed by staff.
“I have a good sense of where the school is and where it’s going,” he said.
The report may give a focus of students, but it doesn’t give a focus of the full school, he explained.
Some students may not do well in one area but could be high successful in other areas, he said.
“We take steps based on all of the data,” Mr. Burnette said.
He would be concerned if the only results used to base a school were from the Fraser Institute.
“That is not my focus,” he said.
Beachburg principal Jody Kitson-Roy advised it would be best to speak to someone at the school board regarding the report.
Westmeath Public School and Our Lady of Grace School in Westmeath, are not included in the institute’s report because the schools are too small.
Gayle Bishop, superintendent of assessment and evaluation, said she agreed with what Mr. Burnette said.
“The Fraser Institute uses old data,” she said. “It’s very narrow data. It’s difficult to get a sense of our students from just one set of data.”
There are other factors to consider to determine the success of the students and the school as a whole, she said.
If parents have a concern regarding their children’s learning, talk to the principal, Ms. Bishop said.
“We support the learning of every student,” she said. “As educators, we value the assessment our teachers are doing every day. They know the learning needs of our students.”
