June 7, 2012 – A new in-depth report reveals Ontario’s best public schools: where student results on math, reading and writing tests beat the odds that their backgrounds suggest. In “Ontario’s Best Public Schools: 2009-2011,” David Johnson and Robbie Brydon compare student outcomes at Ontario elementary schools where students come from similar socio-economic backgrounds, revealing “good” schools where principals, teachers and staff are making a noticeably positive difference to student performance.
The resulting school ratings, by percentile, are useful not only to parents, but to teachers, school board administrators and education officials who wish to identify schools whose practices deserve imitation, or where improvement is warranted.
Several schools achieve positive student outcomes that exceed the expectations suggested by socio-economic factors. Another thought-provoking finding is that students who attend middle schools starting in Grade 6 underperform compared to similar students at other elementary schools.
“How do parents, teachers, taxpayers and school administrators know if children are attending a good school? We help to answer that question by comparing schools on an “apples to apples” basis,” said Professor Johnson. “Educators need to focus on what these schools are doing right to outdistance their peers.”
The C.D. Howe Institute is an independent not-for-profit research institute whose mission is to raise living standards by fostering economically sound public policies. It is Canada’s trusted source of essential policy intelligence, distinguished by research that is nonpartisan, evidence-based and subject to definitive expert review. It is considered by many to be Canada’s most influential think tank.
Click here for the full report.
For more information contact: David Johnson, Education Policy Scholar, C.D. Howe Institute and Professor of Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University; Robbie Brydon, Research Intern, C.D. Howe Institute. 416-865-1904, email: cdhowe@cdhowe.org