Peter Cowley

Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute

Peter Cowley is a Senior Fellow and former Director of School Performance Studies at the Fraser Institute. He has a B.Comm. from the University of British Columbia (1974). In 1994, Mr Cowley independently wrote and published The Parent's Guide, a popular handbook for parents of British Columbia's secondary-school students. The Parent's Guide web site replaced the handbook in 1995. In 1998, Mr Cowley was co-author of the Fraser Institute's A Secondary Schools Report Card for British Columbia, the first of the Institute's continuing series of annual reports on school performance. This was followed in by The 1999 Report Card on British Columbia's Secondary Schools, Boys, Girls, and Grades: Academic Gender Balance in British Columbia's Secondary Schools, and The 1999 Report Card on Alberta's High Schools. Since then, Mr Cowley has co-authored all of the Institute's annual Report Cards. Annual editions now include Report Cards on elementary and secondary schools in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario and on secondary schools in Quebec.

Recent Research by Peter Cowley

— Nov 16, 2024
Printer-friendly version
Report Card on Quebec’s Secondary Schools

The Report Card on Quebec’s Secondary Schools 2024 ranks 465 public, independent, francophone and anglophone schools based on provincewide test results in French, English, science and mathematics during the 2022/23 academic year, finding that the province’s fastest-improving school— de la Rive in Lavaltrie —improved its rating from 1.4 (out of 10) in 2017 to 4.6 in 2023.

— Oct 8, 2024
Printer-friendly version
Report Card on Alberta’s High Schools 2024

Report Card on Alberta’s High Schools 2024 ranks 292 public, Catholic, independent and charter secondary schools based on eight academic indicators generated from Grade 12 provincewide testing, grade-to-grade transition and graduation rates.

— Sep 4, 2024
Printer-friendly version
Report Card on Alberta’s Elementary Schools 2024

The Report Card on Alberta's Elementary Schools 2024 ranks 729 public, separate, independent and charter schools based on eight academic indicators derived from provincewide test results—and finds that​ contrary to common misconceptions, the data suggest every school can improve regardless of type, location, and student characteristics.