Canadian provinces should be concerned about slipping high-school students’ scores – in reading, science and mathematics – as assessed by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), according a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Warning Signs for Canadian...

While Canada has made progress in the past two decades in terms of lowering high-school dropout rates, those rates remain unacceptably high for boys and certain groups limited by poverty or other factors. In this paper, the author warns that the male share of the dropout population continues to...

On average, urban Aboriginals are as “happy” as other Canadians. The fact that the results are similar for Aboriginals and for all Canadians will be surprising to anyone whose image of urban Aboriginals is limited to those living in the poorest neighbourhoods of Canada’s cities. Although...

This Commentarysummarizes new evidence on Aboriginal education from the National Household Survey (NHS) that accompanied the 2011 census. There is some good news: young adults aged 20-24 at the time of the census who identified as North American Indian/First Nation and were living off-reserve,...

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) could improve its development aid impact by focusing on basic education. In the report, the author documents the importance of universal literacy in enabling countries to escape from extreme levels of poverty and identifies specific types of...

There exist very large gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal student performance in most B.C. schools. However, Aboriginal students in some school districts perform remarkably well. What are these districts doing right? The authors draw lessons that may well apply across Canada.

Gaps in education levels between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals are a great social policy challenge for Canada. On-reserve, a smart approach to closing them would be the creation of Aboriginal-run school districts, independent of individual band councils. Off-reserve, the provinces should build...

Anti-poverty initiatives over the last decade have lifted many people out of poverty, mainly through improved employment rates. To make further progress in tackling poverty, targeted interventions are in order that draw on past policy successes.

The high dropout rate among francophone Quebec students, particularly boys, has recently received considerable attention in that province. Media coverage has been extensive, indicating widespread public concern. However, the high-school dropout-rate problem is not restricted to Quebec. Based on...