People for Education was founded in 1996 by parents who wanted to defend and strengthen public education in Ontario. For almost three decades, People for Education has done research, policy development, and public engagement to secure public education’s role in building a fair and prosperous society.
History
Our Story
People for Education started in 1996. It began with a passionate group of Toronto parents concerned about fundraising in public schools, the broader restructuring of public services in Ontario, and the polarization in the public dialogue about public education. From the beginning, our goal was to represent public education itself, as opposed to being on a “side” in the education debate. Over time, we have grown to become a unique organization in Canada — independent, non-partisan, and dedicated to using evidence and research as a springboard for dialogue, policy analysis, and a better way forward for us all.
The Survey
In 1998, we launched the Annual Ontario School Survey (AOSS) – which was distributed to each of Ontario’s 5,000 publicly funded schools and tracked the impact of funding and policy changes on resources and programs. Each year, we published reports based on the data we collected. The AOSS was a tool to engage policymakers, educators, parents, and the broader public in thinking about education policy, and to shine a light on the wide range of factors that affect student success. The last year of the AOSS was 2023. As part of its organizational transition, People for Education is partnering with Laurier and the Canadian Association of Principals to develop and launch a new national school survey.
Convening and Collaboration for change
From 1998 to 2023, we have hosted an annual conference — bringing together parents, academics, educators, policymakers, students and community organizations to connect with and learn from each other. In addition, we have engaged in previous collaborations with organizations such as the Brookings Institution, Unicef Canada, the Canadian Institute of Wellbeing, the Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples of Canada, York University, and the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario. By working together, learning from each other, and sharing our knowledge, we develop policy-ready solutions that lay the groundwork for real change. These experiences have helped to inform how we bring sectors together as part of The Education Promise.
Competencies beyond the 3R’s
Measuring What Matters
In 2013, working with experts from across Canada and around the world, we launched our largest project to date: Measuring What Matters, a multi-year initiative to identify the competencies and skills that matter most in the 21st century, and how measurement and assessment of these competencies could function as lever of positive change in the public education system. Learn more.
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The New Basics
The Measuring What Matters (MWM) project was a multi-year initiative to build consensus and alignment around broader goals and indicators of success for public education. Our findings from MWM were central in informing our comprehensive work on The New Basics.
The Right to Education
In Canada, everyone has a right to education, but that right is currently neither adequately defined, nor equitably accessible. In 2020, working collaboratively with organizations across the country, PFE developed the Right to Education Framework that defines a quality education in Canada by articulating clear goals and outcomes and sample indicators of progress that could be measured and reported by schools, boards, policymakers, and education systems.
The Education Promise
Canadians are living in a time of profound economic, social, environmental, and technological transformation, and young people are navigating a world in which their future is at once exciting and uncertain.
At People for Education, we are asking the question: How can we bring together those who understand the evidence around our biggest challenges as a country and those who understand how to build that evidence into upstream solutions in schools?
The Education Promise is designed to tackle exactly this question.
What’s next? The Education Promise
Looking for more of our previous work and reports?
If you’re a researcher, student, policymaker or advocate and you’re looking for something you’re sure you’ve seen on this site before, please let us know – we’re happy to track it down for you.