TORONTO, Jan. 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Fraser Institute’s Report Card on Ontario’s Elementary Schools is out today.

This year’s Report Card—the go-to source for measuring academic performance—ranks more than 3,000 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.

“The Report Card is a valuable tool for parents and educators because it allows them to easily identify successful schools across the province—serving similar students and communities—that can serve as an example to follow,” said Peter Cowley, a senior fellow with the Fraser Institute’s School Performance Studies.

For example, St. Catherines’ E.I. McCulley Public School, where 61.9 per cent of students have special needs, improved its overall rating from 4.6 out of 10 in 2014 to 8.9 out of 10 last year. In grade 6 math, students at McCulley improved their results from 1.8 out of four in 2014 to 3.3 out of four last year. By comparison, the provincewide average for grade 6 math last year was 2.7.

Elsewhere in the province, McKellar Park Central School in Thunder Bay (which has 66.7 per cent special needs students) improved its overall rating from 3 out of 10 in 2014 to 7.7 last year.

And Ealing Public School in London had a 0 out of 10 overall rating in 2014, but improved to 7.5 last year, even though 45.5 per cent of its students have special needs.

“All too often, principals and teachers try to excuse a school’s poor overall performance by blaming the characteristics of its students or the communities they serve, but the Report Card shows that any school, no matter where it’s located or what challenges its students face, can succeed,” Cowley said.

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

MEDIA CONTACT : Peter Cowley ( in Toronto) Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute Cell: (604) 789-0475 E-mail: peter.cowley@fraserinstitute.org

Angela MacLeod Senior Policy Analyst, Fraser Institute

Bryn Weese Senior Media Relations Specialist, Fraser Institute Cell: (604) 250-8076 Office: (604) 688-0221 Ext. 589 E-mail: bryn.weese@fraserinstitute.org

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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