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Fraser Institute spotlights schools that succeed with different characteristics

Fraser Institute ranks academic performance of 749 Ontario secondary schools



TORONTO—The Fraser Institute today published its annual ranking of Ontario secondary schools, illustrating that all types of schools are capable of improvement and achievement regardless of their characteristics and those of their students.
“Our rankings are the go-to source for parents who want to find out how their child’s school is doing compared to other schools in their community,” said Peter Cowley, Fraser Institute director of school performance studies. The Report Card on Ontario’s Secondary Schools 2015, ranks 749 public, Catholic, and private secondary schools. The rankings are based on seven academic indicators using data from the annual provincewide tests of literacy and math skills. Two very different schools finished one-two in this year’s report card. Ottawa’s Minto, a Francophone Catholic school specializing in trades training ranked first with an overall rating of 10 (out of 10) while Havergal, a Toronto-based private school for girls, ranked second with an overall rating of 9.4.

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Likewise, the list of fastest improving schools illustrates that student achievement is not necessarily indicative of the type of school, its students’ personal characteristics or its location. For example, one of the fastest improving schools in Ontario over the most recent five years is St. Patrick, a Catholic school located in Toronto. Despite 42.9 per cent of its Literacy Test writers having special needs and 41.3 per cent of them enrolled in ESL programs, St. Patrick’s overall rating steadily improved to 6.4 in 2014 from 2.9 in 2010. “What can teachers at my school learn from the teachers at St. Patrick? That’s the key question parents across Ontario should be asking,” Cowley said. “By providing five years of results for most schools, the report card allows parents to track their school’s improvement or decline over time.” Detailed results of all 749 schools can be found at www.compareschoolrankings.org. Visitors to the site can quickly and easily see how a school is doing over the last five years on any of the seven indicators of academic performance as well as the overall rating. Comparisons among schools are also easily made. The complete Report Card on Ontario’s Secondary Schools 2015, is also available as a free pdf. Fastest improving schools in the report card:

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Fraser Institute Peter Cowley -- Bio and Archives

The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of 86 think-tanks. Its mission is to measure, study, and communicate the impact of competitive markets and government intervention on the welfare of individuals. To protect the Institute’s independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit fraserinstitute.org.

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