This study compares student outcomes at Alberta elementary schools where students come from similar socio-economic backgrounds, thus revealing “good” schools where principals, teachers and staff are making a positive difference in student performance. The study screens out the influence of...

This study compares student outcomes at British Columbia elementary schools where students come from similar socio-economic backgrounds, thus revealing "good" schools where principals, teachers and staff are making a positive difference to student performance. This alternative means of...

Among OECD countries, Canada has the highest percentage of postsecondary graduates in the population 25-64 years old, which is due to having a large proportion of nonuniversity postsecondary graduates from colleges and trade schools. By considering the financial returns to types of postsecondary...

While Canada has made progress in the past two decades in terms of lowering high-school dropout rates, those rates remain unacceptably high for boys and certain groups limited by poverty or other factors. In this paper, the author warns that the male share of the dropout population continues to...

Getting a university degree offers substantial financial returns, for women more so than men and for undergraduate degrees more so than advanced degrees. This report finds that high returns to education signal high labour demand in particular fields relative to supply, information which is...

How do parents, teachers, taxpayers and school administrators know if their children attend a good school? Parents, in particular, deserve more information than they can glean from parent-teacher nights or award-filled graduation ceremonies. More meaningful information would allow them to fairly...

In neighbourhoods with falling student populations, policymakers should place a priority on closing middle schools and, elsewhere, avoid opening new ones. In this report, the author shows that middle school attendance increases the chance that students will fail provincially administered...

This study concludes that (i) stoppages can be shown to have a strong negative impact on student learning outcomes in Grade 6; the overall impact of stoppages on Grade 3 pupils appears to be much smaller, perhaps zero, although there is a noticeable, negative effect on achievement in mathematics;...

Ontario’s new “tax on the rich,” which was introduced in the 2012 Budget, affects 25,000 high-income earners and their families. These families matter a lot for the province’s fortunes: about one of every five income tax dollars in Ontario already comes out of their pockets. Ontario’s...