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On average, almost all other high schools in both the Calgary Catholic School District and the Calgary Board of Education showed higher grades in school than they did on diploma exams, with overall averages showing school grades 6.86 per cent higher in 2016, as compared to 5.51 per cent higher in 2012.

Peter Cowley, director of the Centre for School Performance Studies at the Fraser Institute, says the data is a significant indicator that parents need to be asking questions.

“Our report card shows that there has not been a single instance in the most recent five years where a school’s average exam mark was higher than its average school mark. In this edition of the Fraser Institute 2017 report card on Alberta high schools, the average percentage by which school marks exceed exam marks could easily be as much as a full letter grade,” Cowley said.

“In essence, students are being cheated by allowing them to think that they understand the material better than they actually do.”

But the Alberta Teachers’ Association says there is no value in ranking schools based on test grades.

“I wouldn’t put so much value into a three-hour exam versus a five-month evaluation from a teacher,” said Greg Jeffery, president of the ATA.

Two years ago, the province reduced the value of diploma exams from 50 per cent of the final grade to 30 per cent. But the ATA, Jeffery said, wants that reduced even further to 20 per cent.

“These exams can be very stressful for a lot of students. It is very high stakes stuff and there’s a lot of anxiety.”