TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 02/17/13 -- Across Ontario, 167 elementary schools showed significant improvement in their academic performance over the past five years, according to the Fraser Institute's annual school rankings.

Of these improving elementary schools, 64 are in the GTA, 44 in Southwestern Ontario, 36 in North Central Ontario, and 23 in Eastern Ontario, highlighting the fact that school improvement is happening in all regions of the province.

"This is why the Fraser Institute school report card is the go-to source for measuring academic improvement: it highlights school success stories from Murillo in the west to Cornwall in the east and from Timmins in the north to Windsor in the south," said Peter Cowley, Fraser Institute director of school performance studies.

"Our report shows that all schools are capable of improvement, regardless of the personal or family challenges their students might face. If educators want to help students learn and improve, they should be talking to these schools."

The Report Card on Ontario's Elementary Schools 2013 rates 2,714 public, Catholic, and francophone elementary schools based on nine academic indicators using data from the annual provincewide tests of reading, writing, and math administered by the Ontario government's Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO).

"By pinpointing the subject areas in which individual schools are improving or declining and how their academic performance compares to that of other Ontario schools over the past five years, our report helps parents and educators prioritize learning challenges in their schools," Cowley said.

The report card also includes important information about each school's make-up, including parents' average income, the percentage of ESL students, and the percentage of special needs students.

The complete results for all 2,714 elementary schools will also be available at www.compareschoolrankings.org where visitors can compare schools on their results over the last five years.

Of the 20 Ontario elementary schools showing the fastest academic improvement over the past five years, 10 are public schools where the parental income is below average. At eight of those schools, special needs students account for more than 30 per cent of school enrolment. The complete list follows.

"We all want the best possible education for our children. To achieve this, every Ontario school should make improvement Job 1," Cowley said.

Top 20 Fastest-Improving Ontario Elementary Schools

--  Stella Maris (Catholic), Toronto 
--  Heron Park (Public), Toronto 
--  Munns (Public), Oakville 
--  Cobden (Catholic), Cobden 
--  St. Teresa of Avila (Public), Hamilton 
--  A. Wright (Public), Wallaceburg 
--  J. G. Workman (Public), Toronto 
--  Oakley Park (Public), Barrie 
--  Kimberley (Catholic), Toronto 
--  Bishop Macdonell (Public), Cornwall 
--  Perth Avenue (Public), Toronto 
--  Tottenham (Public), Tottenham 
--  Crestview (Public), Murillo 
--  Edith Cavell (Catholic), St. Catharines 
--  Elda-Rouleau (Public), Alexandria 
--  Archie Stouffer (Public), Minden 
--  Gateway Drive (Public), Guelph 
--  Keith Wightman (Public), Peterborough 
--  Orchard Park (Public), Burlington 
--  St. Mary of the Angels (Catholic), Toronto 

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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of 86 think-tanks. Its mission is to measure, study, and communicate the impact of competitive markets and government intervention on the welfare of individuals. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org.