New report grades Ontario high schools on EQAO scores

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Parents and students wondering what secondary schools in the Greater Toronto Area are making the grade — and which ones aren’t — can study the latest provincial rankings released on Thursday.

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The Fraser Institute’s annual rankings of Ontario secondary schools, called the Report Card on Ontario’s Secondary Schools 2025, leans on six performance indicators derived from provincewide tests of literacy and math skills administered by the province’s Education Quality and Accountability Office.

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Scoring perfect among the 747 ranked public, Catholic and independent schools was Thornhill’s St. Robert Catholic High School, Richmond Hill’s St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic High School, Markham’s St. Augustine Catholic High School and Toronto’s St. Michael’s Choir School and Ursula Franklin Academy.

Seven of the schools ranked inside the top 10 improved their rankings from previous years.

‘Every school can improve’

The list includes a ranking out of 10 for the 2023-24 school year as well as a five-year average ranking and overall ranking.

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Six schools were tied with scores of zero at the bottom of the pack. They included Guelph’s College Heights Secondary School, Vezina Secondary School in Attawapiskat, St. Matthew Catholic Secondary School in Cornwall, St. Luke Catholic Learning Centre in Maple, l’Alliance in Iroquois Falls and Manitouwadge High School.

“Our report cards offer parents information they can’t easily get anywhere else about how their child’s school performs and how it compares to other schools in Ontario,” said Paige MacPherson, a senior fellow with the Fraser Institute.

“And contrary to common misconceptions, the data suggest every school can improve regardless of type, location and student characteristics,” MacPherson added.

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Central Technical School in Toronto, for example, is a fast-improving school (rising from 0.2 in 2018 to 4.2) even though 29.7% of its students have special needs.

“It doesn’t matter where a school is ranked or what challenges its students may face. The evidence is clear — all types of schools, located all over the province with different types of students, are all capable of improvement,” MacPherson said.

Not all of the province’s secondary schools were included in the ranking. In the 2023-24 school year, schools must have had at least 10 students who wrote the Grade 9 EQAO math test and at least 10 first time-eligible or previously eligible writers of the Ontario Secondary School Literary Test.

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The Fraser Institute said a parent’s choice of any school for their child should not be based solely on its annual report card, which specifically measures academic performance based on EQAO testing, not the overall educational experience a school provides, including programs and activities not covered in its report card.

Another important factor, the report card said, is whether a school’s academic performance is improving or deteriorating over time.

For the complete results on all ranked schools, visit compareschoolrankings.org.

Top-10 schools

St. Robert (Thornhill), St. Therese of Lisieux (Richmond Hill), St. Augustine (Markham), St. Michael’s Choir (Toronto), Ursula Franklin (Toronto), Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Markham), Olive Grove (Mississauga), Iroquois Ridge (Oakville), Cardinal Carter (Toronto), Abbey Park (Oakville).

Bottom-10 schools

College Heights (Guelph), Vezina Secondary (Attawapiskat), St. Matthew (Cornwall), St. Luke Learning Centre (Maple), l’Alliance (Iroquois Falls), Manitouwadge (Manitouwadge), West Credit (Mississauga), Judith Nyman (Brampton), Northern Lights (Moosonee), Ottawa Technical (Ottawa).

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