Collingwood's high schools were given their annual report card from a public policy research and educational organization last week.

The Fraser Institute ranked 718 secondary schools, giving each school a rating out of 10, based on math and literacy standardized test.

Jean Vanier received a 7.6 rating as was ranked 112 in the province. The top-ranked high school in the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, Jean Vanier tied with Barrie's Banting Memorial for the top spot in Simcoe County.

Vanier vice-principal Bill Ironside says the report card reflects academic excellence at the school.

"We're really proud of our school ¬- we're proud of the kids who demonstrated this high achievement," said Ironside, adding the school's students have done well on the Ontario standardized tests for several years.

"That's something that certainly parents will look at and use as part of their decision-making, whether they want their kids to come to our school or not," said Ironside.

"We value this, we're happy with our own ranking, but we're so much more than that," he said. "We want to be an open-door community for all kids, so we want to offer a full range of programming, from co-curricular sports, clubs, and also our elective programs, the arts and technologies."

Collingwood Collegiate Insitute received a rating of 6.2 and was ranked 360.

CCI principal Mike Abram says his students are doing OK, and over the last couple years a concerted effort to improved applied math scores has resulted in a "huge jump" in test results.

"Overall we have a pretty solid focus on literacy and numeracy," said Abram, adding he is proud of the staff and students at CCI.

Abram says parents shouldn't base the decision of what school to send their children to on solely Fraser report rankings.

He says it's not only about where a "school sits on the scale."

He says CCI provides students with options for academic credit recovery and has a good graduation rate.

"That's a more positive reflection of a school than where it sits on some report," he said. "A school is more than just results"

He says literacy and math skills are important, of course, "we're in the education business, but people have to be comfortable there and feel prepared for whatever the next step is."

He says the school makes an effort to ensure all students succeed and no one falls through the cracks by responding to the students' needs.

"I'd stack us up any day in terms of overall comprehensive programs," he said. "We have diverse kids who do pretty well."

Stayner Collegiate Institute received a 4.9 rating and is ranked 546, and Elmvale District High School 4.7 and is ranked 563.

-kristen.smith@sunmedia.ca