By Mike Anderson
The Fraser Institute, a Canadian public policy think tank based in Vancouver, released its annual ranking of Ontario elementary schools last month, with most Georgina elementary schools ranked in the bottom 20 per cent.
The Fraser Institute’s Report Card on Ontario Elementary Schools 2025 ranks 3052 public, Catholic, and independent schools based on nine academic indicators pulled from Education Quality Accountability Office (EQAO) test scores.
The Report Card gives schools a score out of 10, and a provincial ranking out of 3052.
Fourteen elementary schools in Georgina received scores below 6 out of 10. The average for all Ontario elementary schools is 6.
In Keswick, Jersey P.S. had the lowest score, 1.8 out of 10, ranking it 2988 out of 3052 (2nd percentile), near the bottom in Ontario, while R L Graham P.S. had the highest score, 5.7 out of 10, ranking 1777 out of 3052 (41st percentile), roughly middle of the pack.
In Sutton, Sutton P.S. had the highest score, 4.6 out of 10, ranking it 2385 out of 3052 (22nd percentile). In Pefferlaw, Morning Glory P.S. scored 4.2 out of 10, ranking it 2556 out of 3052 (16th percentile).
Although most educators are wary of using EQAO achievement results to rank schools, the Fraser Institute defends the practice.
“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 Fraser Institute senior fellow, in a media release.
“It’s intended as a tool to help parents choose a school for their children and encourages and assists all those seeking to improve their schools,” she said.
The Fraser Institute claims that despite challenges such as socioeconomic differences, rural locations, or a high number of students with special needs, a school’s score can be improved.
It cites the example of Burleigh Hill P.S. in St. Catharines, one of the fastest-improving elementary schools in the province, rising from a score of 4.5 out of 10 in 2018 to 9.9 in 2024.
Likewise, Tyendinaga P.S., located in Hastings County, jumped from 1.6 in 2018 to 5.4, even though 43.5 per cent 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.
While Carolyn Butterworth, YRDSB’s public school trustee for Georgina and East Gwillimbury, sees provincial standardized testing as a useful tool, she does not support using EQAO results to rank schools.
“There are benefits to standardized testing, as the data that is collected helps the system to address challenges and gaps. However, I do not support its use when it comes to ranking schools,” Butterworth said in a statement.
“I feel it creates unnecessary stress for individual schools where our educators are working very hard to prepare our students for their future pathways. Schools should be measured on their graduation rates, overall student well-being, report card data, their strategies for continual improvement, parent and community engagement – NOT one test.”
“We will continue to listen to what our skilled and dedicated educators have to say in conjunction with working with our families to help support their children. That, to me, is our most important job.”
While a school’s score and/or ranking may provide a snapshot in time, it doesn’t always tell the full story.
According to the Fraser Institute’s Report Card, Sutton’s Black River P.S. scored a 4.2 out of 10, ranking it 2556 out of 3052 (16th percentile), in the bottom 20 per cent of elementary schools in Ontario.
However, a closer look reveals that student results are steadily improving at the school.
For instance, according to 2024-25 EQAO achievement results, the school’s percentage of Grade 6 students at or above the provincial math standard (Levels 3 & 4) jumped to 75 per cent, up from 21 per cent in 2023-2024.
Meanwhile, the percentage of Grade 6 students at or above the provincial reading standard was also up significantly, from 58 per cent in 2023-2024 to 90 per cent a year later.
And, the percentage of Grade 6 students at or above the provincial writing standard reached 95 per cent, up from 50 per cent.
Principal Andrea Rye-Brown says standardized testing helps teachers identify and address areas where students are struggling. And, by plugging those gaps, student performance improves.
According to Rye-Brown, the EQAO data showed students at her school needed to improve their basic operational math skills – multiplication, division, addition and subtraction.
“Often when they were working with problem-solving tasks, they were struggling with the computations,” she said. “So we needed to develop their fluency, so they could free up their thinking for those rich tasks.”
But Rye-Brown is quick to point out it is not a simple back-to-basics approach.
“It’s always been part of the curriculum. So, I think it’s a misconception that we weren’t teaching that. It’s always been part of mathematics. But, it is a part that we highlighted that we needed to spend more focus on,” she said.
Rye-Brown acknowledges, with only 228 students – 19 in Grade 3 and 21 in Grade 6 (the cohorts used for EQAO testing) – the school is susceptible to big swings in EQAO achievement results due to the smaller sample size.
In 2022-2023, for instance, only 17 per cent of Grade 6 students met the provincial math standard.
However, she says the data helps to focus school improvement planning and contributed to Black River P.S. being designated by YRDSB as a “math priority” school, which means it gets funding for a math facilitator and additional curriculum supports.
“We now have a teacher on staff who teaches his own mathematics, and then additionally goes into other classrooms and co-plans and co-teaches with other teachers,” she said.
Rye-Brown adds she’s optimistic that local elementary schools can also use EQAO data to improve student results, but she says it’s a process that doesn’t happen over night.
“Change takes time. When we think about a Grade 6 EQAO assessment, that’s really the curriculum of Grades 4, 5, and 6 coming together,” she said.
Rye-Brown is also a big believer in the power of collaboration.
“We have seen that when our admin and our schools work together, we can make big improvements for our students.”
“For instance, we saw the traction we’ve had on literacy when we all worked together, and now we are doing the same thing with mathematics.”
Bill Cober, Director of Education, reiterates YRDSB’s commitment to improving student results in Georgina, especially in mathematics.
“Across our region, we have seen modest improvements in math, and we will continue to use data to inform how we can build on these results, including in Georgina,” Cober said in a statement.
“The Board’s senior team, dedicated math consultants and facilitators for Georgina, leadership at schools and educators are working in collaboration with their communities to develop strategies within their school improvement plans to support students.”
For individual school results and to compare school performance, visit the Fraser Institute’s website: www.compareschoolrankings.org.
- Virginia Hall slated for demolition this spring - March 10, 2026
- Former Ward 4 Councillor Ken Hackenbrook dies at 87 - March 9, 2026
- MURC hosts new Georgina Sports Hall of Fame in 2026 - March 9, 2026
