They may be heading back to school in a climate of funding cuts, but B.C. students are holding their own when it comes to academic performance.

A new study that compares 15-year-old students in three subjects shows that B.C. teens perform well compared with others across the country and around the world.

B.C. ranked fourth when it comes to the mean scores in math. Quebec, Alberta and Ontario took top honours.

B.C. may be in the middle of the pack for Canada, but jumps up when you compare international rankings -- only four countries score higher.

Alberta comes out on top for reading, with Quebec at number two and B.C. at number three.

Alberta also takes top scores for science, with B.C. in second.

Susan Lambert of the B.C. Teachers Federation says she hopes it's a standard the province can maintain.

"I hope that we all value public education, and we maintain that standard," she said.

"That's what we are so worried about. With the loss of all the teachers that we have...and with the increasing class sizes, the lack of support for children with special needs, we are so concerned that the quality of our public education system is eroding."

One figure that has hit a plateau in recent years is the graduation rate in B.C.

The wealthiest school district in the province, West Vancouver, is number one with a 93 per cent completion rate in the 2007-2008 school year. Richmond is close behind at 91 per cent, and Coquitlam takes the third spot, with 88 per cent.

Here are the top 10 districts in B.C. in terms of best and worst completion rates in 2007-2008:

Top 10

  1. West Vancouver 93%
  2. Richmond 91%
  3. Coquitlam 88%
  4. Rocky Mountain 86%
  5. Delta 85%
  6. Southeast Kootenay 84%
  7. Boundary 83%
  8. Central Okanagan 82%
  9. Burnaby 82%
  10. Surrey 82%

Bottom 10

  1. Stikine 36%
  2. Nisga'a 41%
  3. Haida Gwaii 50%
  4. Nicola-Similkameen 53%
  5. Fort Nelson 60%
  6. Vancouver Island West 62%
  7. Gold Trail 63%
  8. Prince Rupert 63%
  9. Peace River North 64%
  10. Cariboo-Chilcotin 66%

For now, the government can take comfort in the strong showing by B.C. students across Canada. The question is how much will budget cuts affect their standing in the future?

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Mi-Jung Lee