The Fraser Institute has issued its Report Card on B.C.’s Secondary Schools 2014. The report card attempts to compare schools across the province by collecting data about provincial exam results, school issued grades, graduation rates, failure rates, differences in scores between males and females, as well as data about the socio-economic conditions in the area from which the schools draw their students. The data is analyzed and formulae are applied to reduce all the data to a single number out of 10 that makes overall comparisons of individual schools possible. Louise Bayles, principal of Boundary Central Secondary School in Midway, thinks it is unfortunate that the Fraser Institute’s report card seems to shape public perception of school performance. “The comparison is essentially based on provincial exam marks and aspects that relate to them such as graduation rate,” Bayles said. “I don’t believe that these statistics give a clear and honest picture of a student's secondary experience. You really have to take into consideration as well aspects of secondary school student experience such as sports and extra-curricular involvement, leadership, school involvement and the like. There are so many aspects for comparison; it hardly seems appropriate to examine only one, such as provincial exam marks, and make performance statements based on this. “If the students leaving my school are confident, have strong career and personal goals, do their best, have an idea of what being a good citizen is and are kind, thoughtful people.....then we have done our best on their behalf!” Because the method of analysis is statistical and requires broad-based numerical data, the Fraser Institute acknowledges on its website that it is unable to compare schools based on their ability to educate students in the Fine Arts or in the trades. Nor does it evaluate any of the work done by schools in the areas of health, fitness, community involvement and support, counselling, locally developed courses or any electives.This year’s rating for Boundary Central was 5.1; for Grand Forks Secondary, it was 5.8.Grand Forks Secondary School principal Scott Stewart commented, “All things considered, we are doing well when compared to similar schools throughout the Kootenay region. This can be attributed to the type of personalized service our staff provides for all students. “More importantly, our feedback from students suggests they feel connected to the school and this generally results in good performance on assessments like exams.”For more on the report card, go to compareschoolrankings.org" www.compareschoolrankings.org.