Fraser Institute rankings spotlight Ontario elementary schools succeeding in math despite declining scores provincewide

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - December 04, 2016) - Despite overall declining math scores in Ontario, some schools have maintained high levels of student success, according to the Fraser Institute's ranking of Ontario elementary schools released today.

This year's Report Card on Ontario's Elementary Schools ranks 2,900 anglophone and francophone public and Catholic schools (and a small number of independent schools) based on nine academic indicators from results of annual provincewide reading, writing and math tests.

"What our rankings show is that some schools -- no matter where they're located or the needs of their students -- are still able to achieve high math scores, despite the worrying provincial trend," said Peter Cowley, director of School Performance Studies at the Fraser Institute.

According to the Report Card, the 25 English-language schools with the best four-year average math scores include 15 public schools, six independent schools and four Catholic schools. R. L. Beattie Public School in Sudbury leads the high performers.

One of the highest ranked schools in the province is Laggan Public School in the small farming community of Dalkeith in Eastern Ontario. Laggan, which tied for first in the overall ranking, also achieved one of the highest average scores in math.

And Our Lady of Victory in Ottawa also performed well above average in math even though more than 60 per cent of the students have special needs.

"Successful schools like these are doing something right, and they can lead the way by sharing their best practices with lower performing schools serving similar students and communities," Cowley said.

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

Top 25 English schools in Grade 6 math (four-year average score out of 4)

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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.