The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) has deservedly become the benchmark for comparing national K-12 school systems. Since 2000, the OECD has, at three year intervals, organized PISA “rounds” to assess school system performance in member countries and in non-member partner...

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...

Collection of data on academic outcomes among Indigenous students is a necessary step towards bridging the education gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous students, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Measuring Student Outcomes: The Case for Identifying Indigenous...

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...

Poor education outcomes for Aboriginals in Canada have long been a source of concern for Aboriginal leaders and the provincial and federal governments. Notably, sixty percent of young Aboriginal adults living on reserves in Canada lack high-school certification. As a result, they face severely...

This Commentary summarizes 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,...