Despite the controversy surrounding the province-wide Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) results, congratulations are in order for Halfmoon Bay Elementary School.
In this year’s FSA-based ranking of 944 public and independent elementary schools in the province, Halfmoon Bay was ranked fourth among all public elementary schools in B.C.
It’s a major coup for Halfmoon Bay, considering that eight of the province’s 11 top-ranked public schools are in West Vancouver and that 80 per cent of the 100 highest ranked schools are independent schools. But it’s not a total surprise. Halfmoon Bay has consistently outperformed other elementary schools in the district when it comes to FSA tests, which are given to students in Grades 4 and 7 to measure reading, writing and numeracy skills. While education professionals may play down the significance, parents take notice – and indeed, many families have moved to Halfmoon Bay specifically to send their children to a school that’s known for its high academic standing. Students, staff and administration at the school should be proud of their accomplishments.
The FSA-based rankings, released each year by the Fraser Institute, have been routinely and sometimes furiously dismissed by critics, who say the FSA results are an unfair way to measure schools relative to each other. While we agree that the FSA tests are not a perfect yardstick, and should not be held up as a sole benchmark, they nevertheless provide a real snapshot of academic performance in the critical core subjects. To laugh them off, as School District No. 46 superintendent of schools Patrick Bocking did last week, calling the rankings “simply silly,” sounds more political than professional.
Which brings us to the flip side of the much-maligned FSA rankings. Despite showing significant progress in 2014, Cedar Grove Elementary has been struggling since 2012 with the FSA tests, dropping back to a score of 4.5 out of 10 last year – below the B.C. public school average of 5.6. While the school district as a whole has shown steady gains in recent years, Cedar Grove’s results indicate that there is room for improvement.
For parents whose children attend Cedar Grove, acknowledging that there are challenges at the school, and outlining some strategies to overcome those challenges, would be far more welcome than calling the results “silly.”
