Auguston Traditional was ranked highest of the elementary schools in Abbotsford in the Fraser Institute's annual school report card.
Auguston Traditional ranked 44th out of 853 schools province-wide. Two independent schools, Mennonite Educational Institute (MEI) and Dasmesh Punjabi, were next for Abbotsford, tied at 62nd. King Traditional School and Bradner Elementary School followed, both at 104.
Last year's results ranked Auguston at 81st out of 860, the only one of the local top five to rise in position since last year. In the previous report, MEI ranked 59th, Dasmesh Punjabi at 36th, King Traditional at 28th and Bradner at 61st.
St. James Elementary experienced the largest drop in ranking. In the last report card, St. James Elementary was 23rd out of 860. This year it dropped to 193rd, going from the top elementary school in Abbotsford to tied for 11th place.
The ranking are based on the results of the provincial Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) testing of students in Grades 4 to 7 in reading, writing and numeracy from the 2011/12 school year. It also takes into account the school's gender-gap on test performance.
Of the 32 Abbotsford elementary schools included in the report, 25 were in the top 50 per cent of schools province-wide.
The Fraser Institute says the report provides parents with useful information about their schools' academic programs and performance, while critics of the rankings say they over-simplify the different challenges that schools face.
Abbotsford elementary school rankings out of 853:
44. Auguston Traditional
62. MEI, Dasmesh Punjabi
104. King Traditional, Bradner
118. Abbotsford Christian, McMillan
156. South Poplar, Aberdeen
166. Abbotsford School of Integrated Arts
193. St. James, Margaret Stenersen
208. Sandy Hill, Upper Sumas, Dave Kandal
303. Harry Sayers,Ten-Broeck, Ross
317. Clearbrook
335. Dr. Roberta Bondar, Jackson
351. Matsqui, Dr. Thomas A. Swift
385. John MacLure
484. Dormick Park
501. Prince Charles
516. Blue Jay
558. Godson
685. Terry Fox
715. Centennial Park
742. Alexander
Complete rankings of schools can be found at compareschoolrankings.org.