Two independent schools and one rural public school were at the top of the class among Prince George elementary schools, according to annual Fraser Institute rankings released this week.
The results, released Monday, are based largely on data from Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) tests for students in Grades 4 and 7.
Parents' average income, percentage of special needs students and English as a second language students are also used in the calculation.
However school board trustee Lyn Hall said he doesn't give the rankings much consideration because private schools are included in the comparisons.
"It's the old adage, apples to apples," he said. "It's a very view of the FSA results when you compare the private school to the public school."
Immaculate Conception achieved a score of 8.4 out of 10 and was followed by Pineview at 7.3 and Cedars Christian at 6.9. Province-wide, they were ranked 87th, 184th and 237th out of 874 public and independent schools surveyed.
At 6.6, public school Southridge ranked fifth locally and 303rd provincially, followed by independent St. Mary's at 6.5 and 323rd provincially, College Heights at 6.1 and 393rd, Central Fort George at 5.9 and 431st and Highglen at 5.4 and 538th.
Struggling schools included Quinson, at 872nd with a score of just 0.9, Harwin at 866th with a 1.8 score and Ron Brent at 850th with a 2.5 score.
Carney Hill, which was dead last in last year's report, was not included. It has since converted into an Aboriginal choice school.
The full Fraser Institute report can be found at www.fraserinstitute.org.
Click on report cards, then school performance, then British Columbia.
