[NAEP] B.C.'s worst school just may be its best

[Dawn Wiseman]

Some of you may have seen this article in Tuesday's Globe and Mail. 
It raises some good points about how we measure the success of schools.

Dawn


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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060613.BCMASON13/TPStory/National/columnists
>
>Source: Globe and Mail
>Contact: letters at globeandmail.ca
>Website: http://www.globeandmail.ca/
>Forum: http://forums.theglobeandmail.com/
>Copyright: 2006, The Globe and Mail Company
>
>June 13, 2006
>
>B.C.'s worst school just 
> may be its best
>
>GARY MASON
>
>VANCOUVER -- According to the Fraser Institute's most recent 
>rankings of British Columbia elementary schools, the picture doesn't 
>get much grimmer than Roosevelt Park in Prince Rupert. Out of the 
>1,009 schools rated, Roosevelt Park and two others tied for last.
>
>What a morale booster for parents, students and teachers at 
>Roosevelt Park. The Lousiest School in the Province. Roosevelt 
>Park's overall rating out of 10 was 0.0 per cent for 2004-05. That 
>compares with St. George's, an independent boys school in Vancouver, 
>which scored a perfect 10.
>
>Of course, there are a few things that the rankings don't take into 
>account. You know, just little things the teachers at schools such 
>as St. George's and others never have to worry about. Like the fact 
>that 71 per cent of the children entering kindergarten this year at 
>Roosevelt Park were deemed "at risk."
>
>What does that mean? It means they did not possess the basic 
>language skills children should possess by the time they're ready to 
>enter the school system. Many of the kids entering kindergarten at 
>Roosevelt Park don't know their colours, for instance, don't know 
>the difference between an apple and a banana.
>
>Many of them have the language skills of a three-year-old. Or less.
>
>The Fraser Institute's rankings are based on results from the 
>Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA), a provincewide test in reading, 
>writing and numeracy. It is administered each spring to children in 
>Grades 4 and 7.
>
>Oh yeah, that's another thing about Roosevelt Park.
>
>Of the 20 pupils who took the FSA test in Grade 4 last year, only 11 
>had actually been in the school since kindergarten.
>
>There is usually a 50-per-cent turnover of pupils from year to year.
>
>So, even though many of the children at Roosevelt taking the 
>assessment test each year have received most of their schooling 
>elsewhere, Roosevelt gets stuck with the results.
>
>Many of Roosevelt's classrooms are filled with children who have 
>"issues," as they say. Many are affected by fetal alcohol syndrome.
>
>In some classes there might be eight or nine with special needs. 
>Many children have witnessed horrible violence at home. Or have had 
>to deal with other traumas.
>
>One girl just finishing Grade 6 at Roosevelt was recently asked by 
>her teacher, as part of a class exercise, what her earliest 
>childhood memory was. She said she remembered one night when she was 
>7 being left at home alone by her mother who went out for a few drinks.
>
>When she didn't return, the little girl decided to pack up her 
>younger sisters -- one was 3, the other a newborn -- because she 
>feared the people from Children and Family Services would come and 
>apprehend them.
>
>It was the middle of the night and the three had to descend a steep 
>staircase from their house. The seven-year-old was trying to manage 
>a buggy and lost control.
>
>It went rattling down the stairs with the baby in it, knocking over 
>the three-year-old at the bottom. Thankfully, everyone was okay.
>
>By the time the girl told this story, she'd been in five foster 
>homes. A couple of years ago, 40 of the school's 200 pupils were in 
>government care. That's another thing the Fraser Institute rankings 
>don't tell you.
>
>Roosevelt Park offers suicide programs. Why? Because once a month or 
>so, a child at the school discloses to someone that he or she is 
>thinking of ending it all. Seems the kids at Roosevelt have things 
>on their minds other than the FSA. Who would have thought?
>
>The Lousiest School in the Province has piloted a wonderful new 
>program called Parents as Literacy Supporters, or PALS.
>
>It teaches parents how to help their children read and write. You 
>see, many of the parents weren't taught themselves.
>
>There's another program called Parents and Children Education 
>Services, or PACES. It's also a first in British Columbia.
>
>It offers parents advice on basic parenting skills such as how to 
>play with your children and how to stimulate their minds. At 
>Roosevelt Park, as much of the work is about helping the parents as 
>the students.
>
>Roosevelt Park has piloted a number of programs. In fact, it's been 
>so successful that educators from far and wide have arrived at the 
>school to see the programs in action.
>
>Programs offered by the Lousiest School in the Province.
>
>The Prince Rupert Daily News did an article on the Fraser 
>Institute's latest rankings and how Roosevelt Park finished dead last.
>
>That must have made the kids feel even better about themselves, 
>don't you think?
>
>Steve Riley, the school's principal, just shakes his head. What are 
>you going to do?
>
>"We're trying to fix kids here," he said an interview. "That's a 
>bigger challenge than getting their FSA results up. There are so 
>many factors in the kids' lives here that affect their schooling, 
>it's not even funny."
>
>Factors the Fraser Institute's rankings don't take into account. 
>Which is why the Lousiest School in the Province may just be the best.
>
>