Category: Enrolment & Achievement
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Every Student, Every Year: Ontario Schools That Bring Whole Classes to the Standard
A common reply to criticism of Ontario’s EQAO results is that no school can bring every student to the standard. EQAO’s own data shows otherwise: each year hundreds of schools have every Grade 3 or Grade 6 student at the standard in a subject, including large schools and schools in higher-poverty neighbourhoods, and the leading…
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Why We Use EQAO Results, and Why Parents Fought for Them
EQAO results are the only public, independent measure of student learning that covers every Ontario school board. Provincial testing exists because parents demanded it, and its main weaknesses are arguments for better measurement rather than less. We show what board-level results reveal, using the Grade 3 results of the board with the lowest reading scores…
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Growth at the Top, Decline at the Door: What Ontario’s Enrolment Data Show
Ontario’s public school enrolment is not falling province-wide: it rose 2.7 per cent between 2018-19 and 2024-25. The decline is concentrated in large GTA and northern boards, and a shrinking Junior Kindergarten intake points to broader decline ahead. We also reconcile these figures with the Fraser Institute’s 2026 enrolment report.