Think tank targets gaps in school achievement.

The Fraser Institute's release of its first Report Card on Aboriginal Education in British Columbia paints a dismal picture of the level of academic achievement of First Nations students. It gets worse after Grade 8, 17 per cent of Aboriginal students don't enroll in high school, compared to a drop-out rate of less than five per cent for non-Aboriginal students. The Aboriginal education report, covering 38 elementary schools and 49 secondary schools in B.C., both public and private, is based on academic testing of students in grades 4, 7 and 10. Peter Cowley, director of school performance studies at the Fraser Institute and one of the two report authors, discounts these objections entirely.