Hat schools rank low in provincial PATs

By Tim Kalinowski on October 21, 2017.

tkalinowski@medicinehatnews.com @MHNTimKal

According to the Fraser Institute’s annual report card on Alberta schools, Medicine Hat schools rank in the lower percentile of achievement on Provincial Achievement Tests, and have been trending downward over the past five years.

According to the report card, on the elementary side, CAPE Charter School ranks the best at 201st out of 790 schools monitored in the province. Webster Niblock is second in the city at 365th. On the high school side, McCoy ranks a respectable 89th out of 274 monitored, but has slipped from 65th spot five years ago. Medicine Hat High and Crescent Heights rank 185th and 214th respectively.

“These annual report cards are intended to provide objective information with regard to how individual schools are doing to parents,” explains Peter Crowley, director of school performance studies at the Fraser Institute.

“It’s just a snapshot,” says Catholic board of education chair Dick Mastel dismissively, “and of course you would like to brag and say you are higher (on the PATs), but there are a lot of other factors we use to determine how well our schools are doing. I don’t think we are going to be doing anything different as a result of the Fraser reports … We track through the (provincial) accountability pillars. We track graduation rates. We track parental involvement. We track on safe and caring schools. We track on a lot more things than what Fraser does, that are equally as important.”

Crowley says Mastel’s argument is one he hears a lot, and he feels it doesn’t hold any water.

“You are going to have to determine whether you are successful somehow,” says Crowley. “What are the indicators we have to tell us whether we have a school which is effective in generating those student outcomes?

“It seems to be very self-serving to say, ‘We are teaching the kids higher level skills for the 21st century.’ Which, of course, aren’t assessed in these (PAT) tests. As a result, you’ll just have to trust us that your kids are getting a good education.”

CAPE superintendent Teresa Di Ninno, while pleased to be ranked first in the city according to the Fraser Institute among elementary schools, also feels the report card’s methodology is flawed.

“If a class is very small, like ours are, and that class has students with some significant delays and issues, then those scores are going to reflect that,” she says. “It is nice to see we are the top scorers in the city, but we have a population of high needs students with all sorts of cognitive delays and learning difficulties.”

Rick Massini of SD76 says he and his staff are aware district schools do not rank well in PAT average.

“The board is aware of the results of this report, and we are concerned,” he admits. “For quite a few years, we have had a concern about our standard of excellence in PAT results. We are not going to make excuses.”

Massini said the district has been investing heavily in more resources in the classroom, and has started to transition its model of education to create an environment where students at all needs levels can excel. The district has also changed its leadership in recent years to help bring in these changes more effectively.

“There are no schools that can’t improve,” agrees Crowley, “and it would be of great concern if a staff at a school said we are doing pretty well and our kids are meeting their potential so we either don’t see the need or the likelihood we can improve.

“It’s an important thing, and it’s something parents need to ask their principals about.”

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