Private schools make up the majority of the top-ranked elementary schools in B.C. according to a Fraser Institute report released Sunday.

The report ranked 944 public and private elementary schools based on 10 academic indicators derived from results of the province-wide Foundation Skills Assessments exams.

Private schools ranked 8.2 out of 10 on average while public schools averaged only 5.6, and 80 per cent of the top 100 ranked schools are private schools.

"Our report card is the only objective, reliable tool that parents have to compare the academic performance of their child's school over time and to that of other schools in their community," said Peter Cowley, Fraser Institute director of school performance studies, in a release.

The rankings found that 50 schools across the province showed significant improvement over the past five years. Delta public school Devon Gardens is the fastest improving school in B.C., followed by Victoria’s George Jay, Duncan’s Alex Aitken, Vancouver’s St. Andrew's, and Surrey’s Senator Reid.

"When parents see the report card's objective evidence that a school's results are consistently low or declining, they often become very effective advocates for improvement," Cowley said. "Every year, every school in the province must find ways to improve student results-it's as simple as that."

Forty-five of the 50 schools that showed significant improvement are public schools. Two public schools, West Vancouver’s Irwin Park Elementaryand Ecole Cedardale, and 16 private schools received the top ranking of 10.0.

The highest ranking public schools are in West Vancouver and Richmond. The average ranking in West Van is 9.2 followed by Richmond at 6.9, New Westminster at 6.6, Fort St. John at 6.6, Abbotsford at 6.5 and Burnaby at 6.5. Average ratings were only calculated for cities with a minimum of five public schools in the report card.

The BC Teachers’ Federation declined to be interviewed by CTV News but issued a release saying, “The rankings are just a make-work project by the increasingly irrelevant Fraser Institute. No one should take the rankings seriously at all and they certainly don’t warrant the attention they get. It’s time we all moved on.”