FINDINGS FROM PEOPLE FOR EDUCATION’S ANNUAL REPORT

People for Education has released its 2010 Annual report on Ontario’s publicly funded schools. You can access the full report here http://www.peopleforeducation.com/annualreport/ONpublicschools2010

Some highlights:

Student success:

Ontario has more university graduates as a percentage of the population than any other province in Canada. The percentage of Grade 3 and Grade 6 students receiving level 2 or better (60% or above) on EQAO reading and math tests has remained steady at between 86% and 89% since 2004/05.

Declining enrolment/school closings:

This year, the average elementary school in Ontario has 314 students, 14% fewer than when Ontario’s Education Funding Formula was developed in 1997/98.

32 schools closed across the province in 2009. A further 160 are slated or recommended to close over the next three years, representing the largest increase in school closings since the late 1990’s when school boards reacted to funding cuts by closing over 250 schools.

Health and physical education

According to Active Healthy Kids Canada, only 14% of Ontario children and youth meet appropriate physical activity levels. In Ontario, 40% of elementary schools have a Health and Physical Education teacher, but in northern Ontario that number falls to 29%.

Mental health

Between 15% and 21% of children and youth have a significant mental disorder, and 27% of Ontario secondary schools and 37% of elementary schools have regularly scheduled access to psychologists, an improvement over the last seven years. Only 2% of northern elementary schools have psychologists regularly scheduled, compared to 65% of GTA elementary

schools.

Special education

Between 2004/05 and 2008/09, there was a 38% increase in the percentage of Grade 6 students receiving special education support. The number of students on waiting lists for special education services or support has declined from approximately 48,000 in

2002/03, to 32,000 this year.

School libraries

Only 57% of elementary schools have a teacher-librarian, most of them part-time, compared to 80% in 1997/98.

68% of secondary schools have a teacher-librarian, either full– or part-time, compared to 78% in 2000/01.

The Arts 46% of elementary schools have a Music teacher, compared to 58% in 1997/98. In 2008/09, 54% of secondary schools charged fees for art classes and 23% charged fees for music classes.

English language learners

Every year, Ontario welcomes more than 100,000 newcomers to Canada, and two-thirds of Ontario elementary schools have students who are English-language learners (ELL). 26% of English-language elementary schools with 10 or more ELL students have no ELL teacher, an increase from 22% with no teacher last year.

The early years

35% of elementary schools with onsite child care report they have a system to keep track of children with special needs as they leave child care and enter the school system. 5% of English-language elementary schools outside of Northern Ontario have kindergarten programs that are full-day every

day, compared to nearly 100% of French-language elementary schools.