Elmira leads local high schools in Fraser Institute rankings

CTV Kitchener: Little stock in rankings The Fraser Institute’s annual rankings of Ontario high schools leave much to be desired, local school boards say. Nadia Matos has the story.

The Fraser Institute has released its annual ranking of Ontario high schools – and, as usual, local schools show up everywhere from the top of the list to the bottom.

Of the 740 Ontario high schools ranked by the organization, Elmira District Secondary School was the top performer in our area – scoring 8.3 out of 10, making it part of a nine-way tie for 39th place.

Also scoring high were Stratford Central Secondary School and Guelph’s Centennial CVI – both at 8.2 – and Guelph CVI, at 7.8

At the other end of the spectrum, College Heights Secondary School in Guelph scored 1.7 out of 10 – up from 1.1 the previous year, but only high enough to finish 724th out of 740 schools.

Other local low scorers include Brantford’s Pauline Johnson Collegiate – 4.4 out of 10, tied for 616th spot – and Kitchener’s Eastwood College, which tied for 583rd with 4.8 out of 10.

The Fraser Institute compiles its rankings by looking at results of Grade 9 EQAO math tests and Ontario Secondary School Literacy tests, as well as the number of male and female students in each class.

School boards downplay the rankings, saying they don’t take into account social, economic or other factors that may cause an individual school’s performance to appear better or worse.

“We’re not in the business of ranking schools, and neither is the EQAO,” Maggie McFadyen, communications officer for the Upper Grand District School Board, tells CTV News.

For example, McFadyen says, it’s not fair to compare College Heights to most of the other schools in the UGDSB and across Ontario – because College Heights doesn’t even offer an Academic-level stream.

“It’s a very different kind of school,” she says.

“It’s a school designed to give kids the strength that they need to go to the work world.”