WATERLOO REGION — The Fraser Institute's annual School Report Card ranking system showed most schools in Waterloo Region are consistently scoring above average, although Guelph schools performed better at the elementary level.

The report card was developed to gauge the academic success of individual schools. It is based on provincial tests administered by education ministries, focusing on math and literacy skills.

The Ontario elementary school ranking system was launched in 2003, two years after it was implemented for secondary schools. It is based on a rating system from zero to 10, with the provincial average being six.

The ranking identifies whether the school is performing above or below the provincial average and does not take into account all the other factors that make a school successful, such as skills learning or extracurricular activities.

Sixteen Ontario elementary schools scored a ranking of 10 — including Guelph's Edward Johnson Public School, up from a previous ranking of 9.8. Fred A. Hamilton Public School in Guelph scored the next highest at 8.8. Three other Guelph elementary schools scored eight or higher.

The highest ranking score in Waterloo Region elementary schools was Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in Waterloo, with a score of 8.7. It was followed by four schools with scores of 8.0: Lackner Woods Public School in Kitchener, Brigadoon Public School, Waterloo's French elementary school, L'Harmonié and Waterloo's French Catholic school, Mère-Élisabeth-Bruyère.

Several schools in Kitchener and Waterloo scored between 7.0 and 7.9.

The highest score for Cambridge schools was 7.3 for both St. Joseph Catholic School and Saginaw Public School.

Two Cambridge schools received low rankings: Central Public School with 1.9, down from the previous year's score of 3.1 and St. Anne Catholic School with 0.6. The report did not include the school's previous year's scores.

Also low ranked were Rockway Public School in Kitchener with 2.2, down from last year's 3.3 and in Cambridge, St. Peter Catholic School with a rank of 2.3, down from last year's 2.8.

At the high school level, there were no schools in Ontario scoring a 10.

The highest rank for a school in the region was Elmira District Secondary School, at 8.3, up from the previous year's 8.0. Bluevale Collegiate Institute came next with a rank of 7.7, down slightly from last year's 7.8.

Schools that fell below average all ranked 5.7 and included Galt Collegiate, Jacob Hespler Secondary School and Kitchener Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School. Scores were the same as the previous year, except for Kitchener Waterloo which increased from 5.6.

Southwood Secondary School dropped to 5.6 from the previous year's score of 6.2. The lowest ranked high school in the region was Eastwood Collegiate Institute, at 4.8, down from the previous year's 4.9.

For a full list and details on the rankings visit fraserinstitute.org.

The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization.

vhill@therecord.com