Halifax – It’s time to take the results and demand better.
Atlantic Canadians know more today about what is happening in their high schools than they did when the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) released its first report card in 2003. With the release today of the AIMS 8th Annual Report Card on Atlantic Canadian High Schools; parents, students, teachers and the public are being urged to do more with the information.
“Are things better then they were seven short years ago?” asks AIMS President and CEO Charles Cirtwill. “Absolutely. Are they as good as they could, indeed should, be? Not on your life.”
Going beyond the rankings and looking at the information provided by AIMS you can see how your school is doing in Math or Science or Language Arts, and how it compares to other schools in its province.
“The next step,” says report co-author Bobby O’Keefe, “is to use that information to demand better results, to demand change to produce better results, to ask yourself, your neighbours and your community what you are doing to make it better.”
Our students still score below the Canadian average on national and international tests. Atlantic Canadian students consistently fail to make decent marks in the core basics ¨C reading, writing and arithmetic. With enrollment decreasing and funding increasing, we are spending more on education per student than ever before, but performance is not getting better and some would argue it is getting worse.
Some places have thrown up their hands and accepted defeat. Other cities, provinces and states have embraced education reform demanding more and better; and those areas are seeing results.
“Jeb Bush championed significant reforms in public education while Governor of Florida,” explains Cirtwill. “He raised academic standards, required accountability in public schools and created the most ambitious school choice program in the United States.”
“The transformation in Florida schools is measurable. 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.”
O’Keefe suggests the status quo in Atlantic Canada is no longer an option if we want to provide our children with the best possible opportunity for their futures. He says the annual AIMS high school report card provides information to identify the issues, but it will take all of us demanding renewed and reformed action to make it better.
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 annual AIMS Report Card on Atlantic Canadian High Schools.
To view the complete report, click here.
To learn more about the high school report card, click here.
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For more information, 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