Just because a school is the highest ranked in the city doesn’t mean it’s helping students learn, says the direct of education for Lakehead Public Schools.
The annual Fraser Institute released its rankings for high schools over the weekend.
The organization looked at 718 schools across Ontario and compared them based on a 10-point scale. Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute ranked the highest in the city with 7.4 and was one of the top 20 most improved schools in the province.
But Catherine Siemieniuk, director of education for Lakehead Public Schools, said ranking schools doesn’t help students and almost undermines what schools are trying to accomplish.
“We very much believe that our schools work very hard to ensure that our students are moving forward,” Siemieniuk said.
“I think Westgate is a great school. I think all of our schools in Thunder Bay are great schools. In this particular case, Westgate was ranked the highest but generally speaking, I believe all schools deserve accolades for the work they do. I can’t stress enough that rankings don’t improve student learning.”
She said every school puts together an improvement plan and all schools are meeting academics standards.
The Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board’s St. Ignatius High School came in second with a score of 6.7. St. Ignatius took the highest ranking last year at 185 and a score of 7.1.
Rob Kruse, superintendent of education with the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, said the rankings are just a snap shot in time.
“We’ve put in a lot of time and effort in supporting the schools and they are doing an amazing job,” Kruse said.
“It is a snap shot in time and I believe (St. Ignatius) fell four points or there about and we’re looking at that.”
Kruse said they pay attention to the rankings but they also look at other assessments as well.
Other high school rankings include:
• Hammarskjold High School (6.4)
• Sir Winston Churchill (6.3)
• Superior Collegiate and Vocational Institute (6.2)
• St. Patrick High School (5.1)
The top 10 high schools in Ontario were all in southern Ontario. The best high school in Northern Ontario according to the study was Marymount in Sudbury at 43 with a score of 8.3.
A full list of schools can be found at the Fraser Institute website.
