Summary:
Canadians are more educated than ever before, but there are warning signs that performance is declining according to the new CIW Education Report released on October 26, 2010. The report finds that the percentage of spaces for early childcare has increased, as have high school completion rates and university participation and completion rates. There is also good news as the student-educator ratio in public school has been improving -- except in British Columbia. But developmental health in kindergarten has plateaued after a period of steady growth, social and emotional competencies in pupils age 12-13 are declining, and while Canadian basic education scores in Grades 8 and 9 are still above the international average, the margin is dropping.
Highlights:
- The percentage of childcare spaces increased, but varied considerably among provinces.
- Developmental health in kindergarten rose in the 1990s but levelled off in the 2000s.
- The student-teacher ratio steadily improved, but B.C. fell further behind the national average.
- Social and emotional competencies among children 12-13 declined.
- Math, science and reading scores remained above the international average, but the margin dropped.
- Parental socio-economic status became less important to student performance. Parental education attainment remained important.
- High school and university completion rates increased slowly but steadily.