Best High Schools in Ontario: How the Rankings Work, and What They Miss

What is the #1 high school in Ontario?

There is no single #1. Four schools share first place with 10.0, and the report's table gives each of them rank 1. In the Fraser Institute's own words, a 10 "simply means that it performed better than any other school in the report card." The cut-off is built that way on purpose. Any school whose combined score clears a set threshold gets 10, and the report says that threshold "allows more than one school in a given year to be awarded 10 out of 10."

The five-year averages tell a steadier story than one year's score. St. Robert and St. Therese of Lisieux average 9.4 over five years, and St. Augustine 9.3. St Michael's Choir shows "n/a", which the Fraser FAQ says appears where "insufficient data are available".

St. Michael's Choir School describes itself as "a full-curriculum school of 250 boys from grades 3-12 that provides sacred music for St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica," and entry runs through auditions. A school that admits by audition is not testing the same group of students as a school that takes every child in its catchment. The Fraser FAQ adds a second caution for small schools: "ratings for smaller schools can be significantly affected either for better or worse by the results of a small number of students."

When the Fraser Institute announced the 2025 edition, it highlighted schools that had climbed, and it named none of the top four. Its news release named Georges-P-Vanier in Hamilton, "rising from a score of 2 out of 10 in 2018 to 7.1 in 2024," and the study page named Central Technical School, which climbed "from a score of 0.2 (out of 10) in 2018 to 4.2 in 2024".

How does the Fraser ranking work?

The report states it plainly: "We base our Overall rating out of 10 on the school's performance on six indicators," all taken from tests run by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). The six are:

• the average achievement level on the Grade 9 EQAO math assessment, where Level 1 counts as 1 and Level 4 as 4
• the share of OSSLTs written by first-time eligible students that were passed
• the share of OSSLTs written by previously eligible students that were passed, which the report describes as students "who have unsuccessfully attempted the test in the past"
• the share of all completed tests at the school that were unsuccessful on the OSSLT or below the provincial standard in Grade 9 math
• the gap between boys and girls in average Grade 9 math level
• the gap between boys and girls in the first-time OSSLT pass rate

Each result is compared with every other school's and converted to a standard score, which shows how far above or below the average a school sits. The report then combines them with fixed weights: a combined results indicator counts for 45%, a combined fail-rate indicator for 45%, and each gender-gap measure for 5%. A combined score of 2.2 or more earns 10. English- and French-language results are standardised separately, but both sets of schools are ranked in one table, and the rating is rounded to one decimal place.

Two consequences matter for a parent. First, the rating is relative. The report notes that a school "must improve more than the average" to see its rating rise, so a school can get better and still slip. Second, 6 is the designed middle and has nothing to do with passing. The FAQ says "The rating is designed to have an average value of 6. The school's rating does not reflect a pass or fail."

If you have read elsewhere that the ranking uses seven or eight indicators, you have not misread. The Fraser Institute itself gives three counts for this one edition. The report says six feed the rating. The 2025 study page says "seven academic indicators". The news release and the live report-card index say "eight academic indicators". The school pages on compareschoolrankings.org also show figures that do not count toward the score, such as a "Gr 9 tests not written" row in the table and a "Special Needs %" figure above it. The six in the report are the ones that make the number.

To be included at all, a school needed at least 10 students writing the Grade 9 EQAO math test and at least 10 writing the OSSLT in 2023/2024. Schools without a Grade 9 are left out.

Why are most private schools missing from the ranking?

Because the ranking needs the Grade 9 EQAO math test, and private schools do not have to give it. EQAO's FAQ says private schools "can choose to participate" in the Grade 9 math assessment, while participation is "mandatory for students who are attending publicly funded schools". The report adds that a private school appears only if it both ran the tests and let its results be published.

The report is direct about what absence means: "The exclusion of a school from the Report Card should in no way be construed as a judgement of the school's effectiveness." A private school missing from the list has not been rated poorly. It has not been rated. Our guide to private vs public school in Ontario covers that choice in full, and the SSAT and private school entrance guide explains the admissions tests many private schools use instead.

How old is the data behind the 2025 ranking?

The '2025' in the title is the edition year. The data year is 2023/2024. The report ranks schools "for the school year 2023/2024", and its study page calls 2024 "the latest year of available comparable data".

EQAO has moved on since then. On 25 September 2026 it released school-level results from its 2025-2026 assessments, so EQAO's own school pages now carry results from two school years newer than the ranking. The provincial numbers, for English-language schools:

One page on the first page of Google lists the 58% math and 85% OSSLT figures inside its description of the Fraser indicators. They are 2024-2025 provincial results, and the ranking does not use them. It scores each school on its own 2023/2024 results.

De-streaming changed what the math indicator means, too. Before September 2021, Grade 9 students took either an academic or an applied math course. In the report's words, "In school year 2021/22, a new de-streamed math course replaced the Grade 9 academic and applied courses." The report and the website still show two math rows, academic and applied, but from 2022 on they hold the same number. Bloor's page shows 3.3 and 3.3 in 2022, against 3.1 and 2.1 in 2019, before the change. The report also says that, because of the switch, "there will be no trend indicators for grade-9 math." Grade 9 English followed in September 2023, according to EQAO. Our MTH1W guide explains the de-streamed math course itself.

There is a gap in the history as well. The website notes that testing paused for two years during COVID-19, so "we will not be able to fill in the historical results for 2020 or 2021." A school's five-year record on the site runs 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

A new edition has no fixed date. The Fraser FAQ says Ontario updates "usually occur in February and March", but the last three Ontario secondary editions came out in May 2024, January 2025 and November 2025.

Which city in Ontario has the best schools?

The report does not say, because it publishes no average by city. What it does show is where the top schools sit. Counting the 22 schools in the first 18 ranks: 10 are listed as Toronto, 4 as Oakville, 3 as Markham, 2 as Richmond Hill, and 1 each as Thornhill, Unionville and Mississauga.

Read that with care. Toronto has far more secondary schools than any other city, so a raw count will favour it, and a count of top schools says nothing about the other schools in the same city.

What do critics say about the rankings?

The most direct objection comes from a school board. The Toronto District School Board's research page on the rankings (no date shown; read 15 October 2026) says "The Toronto District School Board does not support the ranking of schools for a number of reasons." Its main points, in its own words:

• "School rankings encourage quick judgements about the overall school quality that cannot be substantiated by such limited information"
• "These rankings do not take into account important social and economic factors that also contribute to testing performance such as special education needs, and students whose first language is not English."
• "While there is no evidence that shows ranking schools improves student learning, EQAO/OSSLT results do indeed provide the TDSB with valuable information."

The Fraser Institute's answer is that its report shows "some schools do better than others" even after family background is considered, and it prints each school's share of ESL and special-needs students beside the results so readers can compare similar schools. Both statements hold. The percentages are on the page, and they do not change the score.

The Fraser Institute also cautions against using its own list alone. Its FAQ answers the question "Should I choose a school based on these results alone?" with "No", and the report says "the choice of a school should not be made solely on the basis of a single source of information."

The argument is an old one. In the spring 2009 issue of the union's magazine, ETFO Voice, ETFO's then-president David Clegg wrote that the Ministry of Education had recently launched its School Information Finder website, and that People for Education's executive director had asked the Minister to take the site down. That account comes from a union, 17 years ago. The Finder's old web address now says "This information has moved to Ontario.ca" and links to ontario.ca's "Find an elementary or secondary school" page, which shows EQAO results for each publicly funded school and ranks nothing.

What does a ranking miss, and how can you check it yourself?

The Fraser FAQ puts the limit bluntly: "the school system in Ontario only produces measures of school-by-school academic performance." So the ranking cannot see much of what a family needs to know next. Most of that is a phone call or a board web page away.

Specialised programs run on their own rules. A school's rating covers the whole school. It does not single out the program your child might apply to. Toronto District School Board's specialised programs, for September 2027 entry, score applicants on the previous year's report card (30%) and a demonstration of knowledge and skills (70%), and say meeting the marks benchmark "does not guarantee placement". In the board's past-year data, programs admitting 20% to 40% of applicants were the most competitive. In Peel, applications for the board's Regional Learning Choices Programs for 2027-2028 open on 3 November 2026 and close on 24 November 2026, and arts students "must audition". Peel's Advanced Placement program is offered at Central Peel SS and John Fraser SS. John Fraser ties with three other schools for 29th, at 8.8, but that number describes every student in the building. Our IB vs AP guide compares those two programs.

Your address decides more than the rating. Students who live in Toronto have the right to attend the TDSB school designated for their address. To go elsewhere, families apply in January for the following September, can name one Out-of-Area choice, and pay for their own transport. The board says Out-of-Area status for 2027-2028 "will be updated in November 2026". York Region DSB says "many of our secondary schools are already closed to transfers" from outside their attendance areas.

Some strengths never show up in test data. Every publicly funded board with high schools offers the Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM), a bundle of 8 to 10 courses in one of 19 sectors that ends in a diploma with an "embossed SHSM seal". No indicator in the ranking reflects it.

Graduation rates are published by board. The Ministry's data file gives four- and five-year graduation rates for each board and has no rate for each school. Province-wide, 84.9% of the cohort that started Grade 9 in 2020-21 graduated within four years, and 89.5% of the 2019-20 cohort within five.

Here is the check a family can run at the kitchen table in an evening:

• Read the newer results first. In the Find My School tool at eqao.com, search the school, pick Grade 9 or OSSLT, and read the Achievement Results tab for 2025-2026. Our guide to EQAO results explains the levels.
• Check how many students wrote. EQAO's percentages count only students who took part. On compareschoolrankings.org, look at the "Gr 9 tests not written" row. Bloor's rose from 0.5% in 2018 to 11% in 2024. The report says a reader can trust results more "if all, or almost all, of its students write the tests."
• Treat a missing school differently from a low one. If EQAO shows no results, its tool says that can be "due to small numbers or non-participation".
• Ask the board about entry. Is the school capped, closed to transfers, or open only through an application or audition? Note the application window, because some close in November.
• Ask the school for its course list. The Grade 11 and 12 courses a school actually runs decide what your child can take. Our OSSLT guide covers the literacy test most diploma students write to meet the graduation requirement.
• Read the board's graduation rate, and remember it covers every school in the board.

Where a certified teacher fits

A ranking answers one question: which schools posted the highest provincial test results in 2023/2024. For a child aiming at a particular program, the next question is narrower: what do they need to get in, and are they on track?

That is a course question. A specialised program may score last year's report card. A university program lists the Grade 12 courses it requires. Our OUAC application guide walks through the university side.

A certified teacher can help chart which courses a student needs for a target program, then focus the teaching on the subjects that get them there. The plan comes first, and the lessons follow it.

On genieteacher.com, the How it works page says "every teacher is provincially certified, and that is checked before their profile goes live," and that lessons "run 1-on-1 online around the course your child is already taking at school."

Genie's subjects page adds: "Teachers are certified across Canadian provinces, and each profile names the province on the certificate." You can check any teacher's certification yourself; our guide on how to check if a teacher is certified shows how.

Before you rely on any ranking

Check two dates on it: the edition year and the data year. For the Fraser Institute's 2025 Ontario report, the data year is 2023/2024, and EQAO has published two newer school years since.