Metro school earns a B+

Charles P. Allen High School was metro’s top ranked school in the latest Atlantic Institute for Market Studies’ annual ranking of high schools, placing second in the province.
With a final grade of B+, the Bedford school moved up five spots from seventh place last year.
“They’ve traditionally been near the top of the list,” said Bobby O’Keefe, senior policy analyst with the right-wing think-tank.
“They are a particularly advantaged school, but given that we also take (socio-economic status) into consideration … they are adding value beyond what you’d expect given those advantages.”
Rankings are based on factors such as provincial exam scores, participation in university or college, teacher-pupil ratio and socio-economic status.
Cape Breton Highlands Academy topped the list provincially with a final A- grade.
O’Keefe says there wasn’t sufficient data to rank Citadel High, Halifax’s newest high school, which replaced QEH and St. Patrick’s High last September.
The worst-ranked school in the municipality is Musquodoboit Rural High, placing 64th and scoring a C- final grade. O’Keefe said the school has low post-secondary achievement scores, and more students should take university prep math in high school.
But the Halifax regional school board doesn’t support ranking schools.
“Our schools are very complex and for us there’s a question as to whether you can accurately assess the quality of any school based on a set of criteria,” spokesman Doug Hadley said.
Hadley said schools received achievement results used in the ranking two years ago, and responded by developing professional development strategies.
-lindsay.jones@metronews.ca