The Fraser Institute has once again given Watson Lake Secondary School a failing grade.

In it's annual rankings of B.C. and Yukon high schools, Watson Lake High School was given a rating of zero out of 10.

Meanwhile, Robert Service School in Dawson City was rated at 6.3, F.H. Collins Secondary at 5.7, Porter Creek Secondary at 4.1 and Vanier Catholic Secondary at 6.9.

In the Yukon, the ranking looks at the provincial exam marks in Grade 10 and Grade 12, the percentage of Grades 10 and 12 provincial exams failed, the difference between the school and exam mark in Grade 12 provincially examinable courses, the difference between male and female students in English 12, the difference between male and female students in Math 12, the Grade 12 provincial examinable courses taken per student and the graduation rate of each school.

Last year's report also saw Watson Lake score a zero, while F.H. Collins 5.2, Vanier 5.9 and Porter Creek, the only school to have its mark drop over the year, ended up with a five.

While the average exam mark for Grade 12 students remained at 65.3 for Porter Creek Secondary, the percentage of exams failed at the school went up from 18.4 to 18.8 and the graduation rate went down from 98.3 to 95.1.

Peter Cowley, the institute's director of school performance studies, said recently Watson Lake is one of three schools in the region that received the zero grade.

As he noted though, because it is a relative ranking system comparing high schools in the province and territory, there will always be at least one school with a zero ranking.

'It is a relative survey,' he said, adding that the ranking doesn't mean there's nothing happening at Watson Lake.

Cowley noted it is up to four years before the institute will compare whether the grades have gone up or down for the school.

As he pointed out there can be a number of factors as to why a school may go up or down a mark.

'Porter Creek went down, but it's only one year of data,' he said, adding it's difficult to come to a conclusion of whether the drop means anything.

However, trends can usually be seen when the schools are looked at over a period of years, he said.

The Fraser Institute has been looking at high schools in the territory for two years.

This marked the first year the institute has included Grade 10 provincial exam marks.

Cowley noted eventually he wants to see each grade which has provincial exams included in the survey and ideally, Grade 11 would be put in next year.