(Quebec) The desire of the Minister of Education to one day publish his own “school rankings” using government data does not go down very well in the education network. Bernard Drainville assures that it is only a question of pulling everyone up.
What there is to know
- Quebec unveiled an education “dashboard” on Monday which presents nine indicators, including vacancies and graduation rates.
- Minister Bernard Drainville would like, in the long term, to be able to compare schools with each other, like a “winner list”.
- The unions and management believe that such a list would not serve the students.
Like what is already done in the health network, the education network now has its government “dashboard”, which provides information on nine indicators, including the results of Ministry exams, vacancies and the graduation rate. Several data are available by school service center.
However, by revealing it, the minister suggested that he aspired to refine this data by school, and perhaps even draw a ranking from it.
“One of the objectives is to ensure that the general management of school service centers can learn from each other and, yes, compare themselves,” said Minister Drainville in an interview with The Press.
“If I push the logic a little further, I say in a few years, could we draw inspiration from it to possibly do it for schools? We’re not there yet, but I don’t see why we should deprive ourselves of thinking about it,” the minister continues.
Difference in context between schools
The reactions were quick.
“Decontextualized data doesn’t say much,” observes Kathleen Legault, president of the Montreal Association of School Directors (AMDES).
She cites, for example, the data that could be collected on the graduation rate in Montreal, where many students arrive in class without speaking French.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The president of the Montreal Association of School Directors (AMDES), Kathleen Legault
We might have the impression that it is because we are not using the best methods, but in fact, it is because we have students who have particular challenges.
Kathleen Legault, president of the Montreal Association of School Directors (AMDES)
The Autonomous Education Federation (FAE) wants Minister Drainville to abandon this idea of rankings, which “will never do justice to the complexity of what a school is,” says its president Mélanie Hubert.
“There is a context around the students,” says Mme Hubert, who cites for example poverty, which influences academic success, but also the community resources available, the support of parents, the housing where the children live.
“All these questions impact the success and motivation of students,” says Mélanie Hubert.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The president of the Autonomous Education Federation (FAE), Mélanie Hubert
Yes, we can compare the service centers with each other, but “you have to do it in a nuanced way,” retorts Bernard Drainville.
“I am a little surprised by the outcry from certain groups,” said the minister.
“There are school service centers which have several schools with a high deprivation index and which still manage to obtain interesting results in the Ministry exams,” continues Mr. Drainville.
Such a ranking, the data of which is compiled by the Fraser Institute, is published each year by Quebecor.
The Federation of Private Educational Establishments (FEEP) believes that we must “be careful” with these rankings, given that “a large part of education is difficult to measure”.
“We must respect that each school has its own educational project and they operate in environments that are very different from each other,” writes Geneviève Beauvais, director of communications at the FEEP.
Two dashboards
All the data that Quebec has on students is not made public, and the Minister of Education also speaks of his “internal” dashboard. In the immediate future, Minister Drainville says that the “very specific” information it contains will help students or classes who are in greater difficulty.
He explains that we could, for example, provide more tutoring to classes that have “below average academic success”, or even add help to the class where results are less good.
The Ministry will not intervene directly with schools, specifies the minister, but “will be able to equip school service centers” to do so.
As for the data that has been put online for everyone, could it be that their publication pushes some to modify the results upwards?
Bernard Drainville responds that he “trusts the professionalism of the teaching staff”.
The fact that this dashboard is public and updated regularly is “a great exercise in transparency” and will create “healthy emulation”, he continues.
“The idea is to pull everyone up,” adds Bernard Drainville.
With The Canadian Press