Research Analysis
Methodologies
The BCEIC 2024-2025 BC Secondary School Ranking is a quantitative research analysis that examines the effectiveness of secondary schools in British Columbia. All brick-and-mortar schools operating in British Columbia that provide classroom-based education program leading to a BC Dogwood Diploma are equally examined using three major performance indicators.
For raw research data, our scholars rely on publicly available government data supplied by the British Columbia Ministry of Education and Child Care due to its high degree of accuracy and accessibility. However, in addition to the use of empirical government data, the 2024-2025 BC Secondary School Ranking also incorporates valuable school-specific data that focuses on the unique academic programs delivered by schools.
This approach is adopted to minimize error and to ensure that the perspective of every school is equally represented. School-specific data are generally supplied by public school districts and individually by independent schools.
BCEIC’s 2024-2025 BC Secondary School Ranking delivers a measurable, coherent, and comprehensive portrayal of secondary schools in British Columbia based on the following core values and standards:
1.
BCEIC’s research analysis is guided by a coherent central theme.
The major performance indicators collectively predict students’ success in university, as the indicators measure and evaluate the schools’ success in preparing their students for academic challenges in the post-secondary realm.
2.
BCEIC’s research analysis is education-focused and politically neutral.
The major performance indicators are free from political influence irrelevant to the quality of education delivered by schools.
3.
BCEIC’s research analysis is not an arbitrary top-down evaluation, but a collaborative movement with schools to promote equal representation.
In addition to the use of empirical government data, BCEIC also incorporates valuable school-specific data that focuses on the unique academic programs delivered by schools. We welcome schools to contact us and provide us with feedback if our data appear to be outdated or inaccurate. We appreciate and value the participation of every school and we want the voices of all schools across British Columbia to be heard.
4.
BCEIC’s research analysis is extremely straightforward and easy to understand.
Our scholars kept our readers in mind while designing the foundation of our research analysis and major performance indicators. Our readers do not need to learn complicated math formulas or algorithms to understand our work.
Major Performance Indicators
BCEIC’s 2024-2025 BC Secondary School Ranking assigns a rank and a performance score out of 100% to every school. Three major performance indicators are adopted. Each major performance indicator is assigned with a percentage weight according to its relative significance in predicting students’ academic performance in post-secondary education.
Major performance indicators adopted by our research analysis are verifiable and entirely objective in nature. In contrast, our research analysis does not incorporate any subjective, qualitative measurement indicators due to the risk of data inaccuracy and greater vulnerability to bias.
School Ranking Major Performance Indicators
1. Percentage of Proficient/Extending Students (3/4 and 4/4) on the Grade 12 Literacy Assessment Exam
The Grade 12 Literacy Assessment Exam is commonly known as the “high school graduation exam” in British Columbia. It is the only mandatory standardized exam for students in British Columbia at the grade 12 level. All students must complete this exam in order to graduate with a BC Dogwood Diploma.
More importantly, the Grade 12 Literacy Assessment Exam serves the dual function of being the province’s “university entrance exam,” as it provides verification to universities on a student’s literacy skills, reading comprehension skills, data interpretation skills, critical thinking ability, and comprehensive knowledge in the English language.
On a perfect scale out of 4/4 (extending grade), the University of British Columbia currently requires a minimal score of 3/4 (proficient grade) for an applicant to be successfully admitted.
The British Columbia Ministry of Education and Child Care releases data annually on the percentage of students in each school who obtain a score of 3/4 and above on the Grade 12 Literacy Assessment Exam.
Under the guidance of the same mentality and principle, BCEIC’s 2024-2025 BC Secondary School Ranking assigns the heaviest weight of 80% to the proportion of grade 12 students who scored 3/4 and 4/4 on the Grade 12 Literacy Assessment Exam.
We place great value on this major performance indicator because it demonstrates a school’s ability to guide the greatest number of students to academic success. This major performance indicator reflects upon a school’s ability to attract academically strong students and/or to prepare them to achieve relative excellence through its education programs.
More importantly, this major performance indicator is also significant in serving as the deal-breaking requirement for students to enter many top-ranking universities like the University of British Columbia.
2. Percentage of Extending Students (4/4) on the Grade 12 Literacy Assessment Exam
BCEIC’s 2024-2025 BC Secondary School Ranking assigns the second largest weight of 15% to the proportion of grade 12 students who scored 4/4, the highest grade on the Grade 12 Literacy Assessment Exam.
We place emphasis on this major performance indicator because it demonstrates a school’s ability to deliver a selected group of students to the highest level of academic success. This major performance indicator reflects upon a school’s ability to attract the highest-performing students and/or to support already strong performing students to achieve the highest score.
Our scholars assigned a much lesser weight to this major performance indicator, as we believe that socioeconomic factors should play a lesser role in determining the quality of education provided by schools. Over-emphasis in this area creates an unfair disadvantage to public schools, as they do not have the ability to pick and choose their students.
At BCEIC, we believe that the essence of quality education is defined by the system’s ability to support the greatest number of average students to achieve relative success, rather than its ability to support a highly selected, chosen group of students to achieve the paramount.
3. Implementation of University Equivalency Credit Programs (AP/IB/Equivalency Credit)
Advance Placement (AP) Program, International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program, and Equivalency Credit Program are rigorous pre-university academic programs that enable students to complete university-level credits during high school. We award a score to each school based on whether a school facilitates any one of the above three programs.
We assign this major performance indicator with the weight of 5%, as these advance academic programs have many positive impacts on students’ learning outcome. They challenge students with more advance curricula and broaden their knowledge base in various subjects.
More importantly, University Equivalency Credit Programs often provide greater advantage to students when they apply for top-ranking universities. Successful completion of advance credits serves as solid evidence to predict the students’ future success, as University Equivalency Credit Programs enhance students’ readiness to confront academic challenges and heavier workloads at the university level. It also opens doors to various scholarship opportunities and early graduation.