Halifax – There are new top high schools for the Anglophone and francophone systems in New Brunswick this year.
Petitcodiac Regional School improves from a ‘B’ grade to a ‘B+’ to take the top spot in New Brunswick’s Anglophone sector. Last year’s top school, Upper Miramichi Regional High School in Boisetown, saw its grade fall from an ‘A’ to a ‘B’ this year primarily due to a decline from an ‘A+’ in post-secondary achievement to a ‘B+’.
For the first time in four years New Brunswick’s Francophone sector has a new top school. Saint John’s École Samuel-de-Champlain maintained a ‘B’ grade from last year’s report card but rises from fifth spot to first. École Marie-Gaétane in Kedgwick slips to second spot this year after three years at the top, falling from an ‘A-’ grade to a ‘B’.
However, obtaining information on what is happening in New Brunswick’s government schools continues to be a problem. The Anglophone system no longer conducts provincial tests for high school subjects, although the francophone sector does. Unfortunately, the school assigned grades are also impossible to get for either system.
New Brunswick, for many years, has excluded both its universities and its District Education Councils (DECs) from its Right to Information rules. This has allowed the Université de Moncton to opt out of providing information on performance of first year students for several years. At the same time DECs are not obligated to collect or provide data on school performance, so teacher assigned grades have remained unavailable despite being the only measure of student achievement in New Brunswick high schools since provincial exams were dropped.
On the bright side, New Brunswick will soon have a new law that covers universities and DECs.
AIMS’ research and that of other internationally recognized organizations, including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), shows that publicly releasing information improves student performance. It is one of the principles that Governor Jeb Bush will talk about when he visits New Brunswick in June.
“The transformation in Florida schools is measurable,” says Charles Cirtwill, AIMS President CEO. “More students are reading, writing and doing math and science on or above grade level. More high school seniors are earning a diploma and fewer students are dropping out.”
Cirtwill says Bush’s steps to education reform did not involve throwing more money at the system. Instead, he raised academic standards, required accountability in public schools including public reporting of test results on a school by school basis, and he created the most ambitious school choice program in the United States.
Governor Bush is speaking at an AIMS Education Dinner in Moncton on Tuesday, June 1st.
The AIMS Report Card is published annually in Progress magazine and a complete copy can be found as a centre insert in the latest issue. This is the eighth year the magazine has dedicated an edition to the AIMS Report Card on Atlantic Canadian High Schools.
Follow this link to the complete report card.
Follow this link to a guide that provides background for the report card.
Follow this link to a summary table of results for New Brunswick Anglophone schools.
Follow this link to a summary table of results for New Brunswick francophone schools.
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For more information, please contact:
Bobby O’Keefe, AIMS Manager, Government Performance & Accountability
902-429-1143 (o) / 902-222-0944 (c)
Charles Cirtwill, AIMS President & CEO
902-429-1143 / 902-489-7699 (c)