Ontario, Canada: Making Sure Students From All Backgrounds and Origins Can Fulfill Their Potential

Reflections on the 2009 PISA Test Results for Chile

Most Canadian high school students do well, independently of family background, their first language or whether they were born in Canada or elsewhere.

Canada’s provincial governments are in charge of education policy.

Ontario illustrates the factors behind the success of the nation as a whole.

Key facts

2009 PISA RESULTS

Canada has one of the highest rates of immigration per capita in the world, with 40,000 immigrant children joining its public schools each year. Ontario, Canada’s largest province, attracts a high proportion of immigrants.

With a population of 13 million, Ontario accounts for 40% of Canada’s population. Four out of five Ontario school students are in metropolitan areas.

One out of four school students in Ontario was born outside Canada. Most immigrants come from Asia and the developing world, and 80% are non-English speaking.

Ontario has around 5,000 schools for some two million students. As part of the provincial government’s education reforms, a large proportion of school principals and vice-principals participate in a mentoring program.

Outcomes

Ontario’s education reform has increased elementary literacy and numeracy, improved graduation rates and reduced the number of low-performing schools. Thanks to such policies, Canada is one of the top-performing countries in PISA and one of very few that show no gap between immigrant and native students.

Within three years of arrival in Canada, immigrants score an average of 500 on the PISA exam, which is remarkably strong by international standards and well ahead of countries like the United States and France.

Between 2003 and 2010, Ontario’s high school graduation rate rose from 68% to 79%. The provincial government’s target is to raise it to 85%.

Ontario’s Literacy and Numeracy initiative raised the average pass rate in grade 3 provincial exams in reading, maths and writing from 55% in 2003 to 70% in 2010. The provincial government aims to raise it to 75%.

http://pearsonfoundation.org/oecd/canada.html