Fraser Institute News Release: Fastest improving secondary schools in Ontario found outside the GTA, according to annual ranking

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - February 19, 2017) - Secondary schools in all corners of Ontario are showing signs of improvement, but far too many schools aren't improving at all, or worse, have declined in their overall ratings, according to the Fraser Institute's annual ranking of Ontario secondary schools released today.

"From northern Ontario to the southwest, urban and rural, schools with high levels of special needs students or schools in ethnically diverse communities, there are examples across the province of schools serving students with very different needs that are improving year after year," said Peter Cowley, director of School Performance Studies at the Fraser Institute.

This year's Report Card on Ontario's Secondary Schools ranks 740 anglophone and francophone public and Catholic schools (as well as a small number of independent and First Nations schools) based on seven academic indicators from results of annual provincewide math and literacy tests.

Of the 10 fastest improving secondary schools in Ontario, none are in Toronto or even the Greater Toronto Area.

Marie-Rivier, a French Catholic high school in Kingston, is the fastest improving, followed by West Ferris Secondary School in North Bay, Sacre-Coeur in Sudbury, and St. Thomas Aquinas in Lindsey.

Looking at the 15 schools in the Toronto-area that are improving, nearly half had household incomes well below the provincial average of $74,700 in 2012/13, the last school year for which this statistic was calculated.

C.W. Jeffreys near Jane and Finch in Toronto was the fastest improving school in the GTA. Blessed Mother Teresa in Scarborough's Malvern neighbourhood was 2^nd fastest. James Cardinal McGuigan, also in the Jane and Finch area, was the 7^th fastest improving school in the GTA.

While 59 schools across the province showed improvement in their overall ratings over the past five years, 51 showed declining scores.

"All too often we hear excuses that schools can't improve their students' performance because of the communities they serve, but there are success stories across Ontario where teachers with students that face challenges every day nonetheless find ways to help their students improve," Cowley said.

For the complete results on all ranked schools, and to easily compare the performance of different schools, visit www.compareschoolrankings.org.

10 fastest improving secondary schools in all Ontario (fastest at the top)

10 fastest improving secondary schools in Toronto and the GTA (fastest at the top)

Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter | Like us on Facebook

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 think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org