ola

Hi ,

I am considering sending my kid to FFCA( Future Foundation Chartered Academy )school i went there is looks nice. I am wondering if any one has any information about this school either Good or Bad i just do not want to leave any stone unturn.
Thanks:blink

leepee

HI there....

Not sure how old your child is but they do have quite the waiting list....I would check how likely a place is. People are putting their children's names down pretty much at birth...!!

It gets good grades - You could have a look at the Fraser Institute ratings for schools - although I don't think they got a grading this yr for some reason. Last yr I know they did pretty well....I knew someone a while back who sent their son there and as far as I know they were perfectly happy with it....

Sorry not to have more info but I would check out the wait list first if I were you...
Lisa

PMM

Hi

You might wish to read the Fraser Institutes ranking of the school
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/repor...spx?id=ABS0012

Judy in Calgary

Ola, it would help you to understand the Fraser Institute's School Report Card for FFCA if you have some comparative data.

I looked for FFCA amongst the Fraser Institute's School Report Cards for elementary schools in Alberta, and did not find anything there. I only found FFCA listed amongst Alberta's high schools. Here is how FFCA compared with public high schools in Calgary in 2007 (the higher the score the better):


Bowness .................... 6.1

Centennial ................. 5.6

Central Memorial ......... 6.8

Crescent Heights ........ 5.4

Dr. E. P. Scarlett ........ 7.5

Ernest Manning .......... 5.6

Forest Lawn .............. 2.6

FFCA ........................ 6.5

Henry Wise Wood ........ 7.3

James Fowler .............. 2.9

John G. Diefenbaker ..... 7.8

Lester B. Pearson ........ 6.2

Lord Beaverbrook ........ 6.5

National Sport ............ 7.3

Queen Elizabeth ......... 7.6

Sir Winston Churchill .... 8.5

Western Canada ......... 8.7


Hope that helps.
x

Steve_P

Can people here tell me what it is you think it is that the Fraser Institute Report Cards are telling you?

Judy in Calgary

The information from the FI is a starting point. As I've mentioned before, I've found a high level of correlation amongst the FI school report cards, community crime statistics, and my own experience of visiting different neighbourhoods.

If you visit places in person, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this stuff out. You walk around one neighbourhood in the evening, and there are children playing in the playgrounds, people out walking their dogs, lawns that have been mowed, vehicles in reasonable condition, etc. You walk around another neighbourhood, and you see broken screen doors, cars up on blocks, grasss that has not been cut, etc.

I know which of those neighbourhoods I would want my family to live in.

Even the Fraser Institute states that its information is a starting point. On its website it strongly recommends that parents visit schools, speak to principals and teachers, and assess the vibe of each school, before they make a decision. Well the FI didn't say vibe, but something to that effect.

When people are overseas, they haven't yet had a chance to visit a given city, and they want to start narrowing down their choices, they want something that they can use as a starting point.

I actually believe that most people start researching specific neighbourhoods and specific schools too early in the process. But it's human nature. I've done it myself, even when I've known better.

In the case of this thread, the original poster had been to the school in question (FFCA) and thought it was nice. My point in providing the FI scores for 2007 was to point out that, while FFCA is a charter school, there were eight ordinary high schools that had received better FI scores than FFCA and one ordinary high school that had received the same FI score as FFCA.

Well, I didn't say that, but I hoped the results would speak for themselves. If the original poster likes the vibe at FFCA and she thinks it would be a good place to send her kids, fine. But there are ordinary public (non-charter) schools that are obtaining the same academic results as FFCA, and there are eight that are receiving better results than FFCA (according to the FI).

But those scores are for high schools. FFCA didn't show up in the FI's information on elementary schools, as far as I could tell.

Finally, while the Fraser Institute may or may not be a credible source of information, I can't see how a bunch of strangers on an Internet forum are any more credible.
x

MrsDV

Well, I think it helps inform you how one particular school compares to others and if that particular school is performing better or worse than it has done in the past. At least that's how I used it - I'm no academic though

MrsDV

Steve_P

I'll certainly agree with that.

What I was getting at is in a sense what you have stated in the rest of your above post.

The FI results basically don't tell you anything about the quality of the teachers in a given school but more about the students and their parents who attend that school as well as the socio-economic level of the catchment area of the school.

dthomas

Fraser Institute = Neo-cons. A privately financed marketing and "think-tank" organisation. Their agenda is purely self-promoting, arbitrary, without any clear publically published criterion of analysis, fiddles with data and stats, strongly against public education, and anti-special needs (or modified programs for special needs).

The school I work at was rated high on the Fraser's Quebec School Rating list - but the didn't take into account we are a selective IB school in their so called number-crunching and dehumanising analysis (we have a very low number of special or high needs students - compare this to the school across the street that is 15-20% high needs; they are at the BOTTOM of thier daft list). I laugh at what they publish about schools because it's utter bullshit. If you want to find out about a school visit it, talk to the parents and students, the admin and the teachers. Read the BC Teacher's Federation statement (linked below).

Interesting insights into this company:
http://bctf.ca/NewsReleases.aspx?id=1246
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/...7-284492261978
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2004/03/08/T...ublic_Schools/
http://www.educ.sfu.ca/news/fraser-institute.html
http://www.desmogblog.com/fraser-ins...-london-report
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/fraserinstitute/
http://oldfraser.lexi.net/media/medi.../20011101.html

Steve_P

It's not often I agree with what you have to say but this is one of those times.

dbd33

If I was shopping for a school for my ordinary needs children, one that gave them the best shot at the best universities, isn't this exactly what I'd want?

MrsDV

The school I work at was rated high on the Fraser's Quebec School Rating list - but the didn't take into account we are a selective IB school in their so called number-crunching and dehumanising analysis (we have a very low number of special or high needs students - compare this to the school across the street that is 15-20% high needs; they are at the BOTTOM of thier daft list).

I still think the FI report is relevant. Most people, if given the choice, want their children to attend well performing schools. Most people also know that there are many contributing factors which cause one school to perform better than others - teaching abilities, pupils' abilities, pupils' parental support etc.

Lets assume a school does well, not because of great teaching abilities but because of the socio-economic level of the families attending that school or a low percentage of high needs children attending the school. I still think most parents would prefer their children to attend that school rather than a school performing comparatively less well, because teaching time and resources would not be taken up by high needs requirements, leaving more time and resources for the kids of Mr and Mrs Average.

Just the thoughts of a non-academic parent

newshoney

We are moving to the NW and the only designated high school for our area is Bowness... but as Sir Winston Churchill is the only nearby one that does the IB programme, I checked both out. SWC was full of extremely high-achievers with a burdensome level of homework... several parents told me we could forget about family leisure time at weekends as it's all about study. Bowness had a very impressive principal, excellent facilities and an amazing amount of options for both academically-inclined kids and those who have different strengths.

Alberta_Rose

[QUOTE=newshoney;6465029] SWC was full of extremely high-achievers with a burdensome level of homework... several parents told me we could forget about family leisure time at weekends as it's all about study. QUOTE]

This was my impression too!

My lad goes to Bowness and seems very happy there. I think we all would have had a nervous breakdown if he'd gone to SWC (Which we identified as a "good school" before we landed on the basis of the league tables).

I am really thankful we moved along one community and fell into the catchment area for Bowness instead! He's not madly academic, and we get lots of the "could try harder" type comments, but nyeh!

Judy in Calgary

Sigh.

I did not quote the Fraser Institute's scores because I believe they're the be-all and end-all of everything. I was merely trying to point out to ola, who had asked a question about the Future Foundation Chartered Academy (which has an aura about it because it's a chartered school, and it makes a big deal about phonics and traditional learning and all that jazz), that -- at least insofar as the FI scores go -- there's nothing particularly outstanding about FFCA.

But I've never visited FFCA in person. Ola has, and she said she liked it. So, if she liked the school during a personal visit, I'd say that's a very important factor.

I wrote a Wiki about Calgary schooling, which provides information that parents can use as a starting point, and they certainly should supplement that with personal visits to the schools that are on their short list.

I am now retiring from any further comments about Calgary schools, because more often than not they turn into a debate, which I don't really want to get into. If people want to get their children educated by Martians, more power to them.
x