More Ontario high schools experienced declining performance in 2019 than improved

TORONTO—The Fraser Institute today released its annual rankings of Ontario secondary schools, and the findings show that more Ontario high schools declined in performance in 2019 than those that improved. The Report Card on Ontario’s Secondary Schools 2020, the most accessible tool for parents to compare the academic performance of the province’s schools, ranks 733 anglophone and francophone public and Catholic schools (and a small number of independent and First Nations schools) based on nine academic indicators derived from annual provincewide reading, writing and math tests.

“The Report Card offers parents information they can’t easily get anywhere else, about how their child’s school performs over time and compares to other schools across Ontario,” said Peter Cowley, a Fraser Institute senior fellow. This year, 73 schools around the province experienced declining performance, while 47 schools showed improvement. But contrary to common misconceptions, the data suggest every school is capable of improvement regardless of where it’s located, where it ranks, or the students it serves. For example, Great Fort Erie Secondary School in the Niagara region was one of the top five fastest improving schools in the province last year (rising from a score of 3.6 out of 10 in 2015 to 6.8 in 2019) despite 26.7 per cent of its students having special needs. Similarly, over the same period, École secondaire Hanmer, a French-language high school north of Sudbury that ranks 658 out of 733 this year, is the third-fastest improver across the entire province and has improved its rating from 0 to 3.7 from 2015 to 2019. “We often hear excuses that some schools can’t improve student performance because of the communities and students they serve, but all over Ontario, there are schools with students facing significant challenges that still find ways to improve,” Cowley said. For the complete results on all ranked schools and to compare the performance of different schools, visit CompareSchoolRankings.org. Media Contact: Peter Cowley, Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute peter.cowley@fraserinstitute.org To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact: Bryn Weese, Fraser Institute bryn.weese@fraserinstitute.orgReport Card on Ontario’s Secondary Schools 2020