Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

Class Sizes
Chapter 6: Elementary and Secondary Education
The determinants of high student achievement have been a topic of significant debate among
researchers, education-sector stakeholders and governments. Attention has been paid to the
relationship between socio-economic status and education outcomes. Concurrently, significant
efforts have been made to help policy-makers decide how best to allocate resources to
support better outcomes for students.
One of Ontario’s fundamental strategies to support improvements in student achievement has
been to reduce primary class sizes (kindergarten to Grade 3). Since 2008–09, 90 per cent of
classes have had no more than 20 students and the remainder have been capped at
23 students.
These reductions in class size have required significant resources. In 2004–05, when
primary class sizes were funded at an average of 24.5 students per class, the ministry
provided a $90 million, primary class-size reduction grant as a first step to reducing class
sizes to 20 students or fewer. By 2009–10, this grant had increased to over $430 million.
In 2010–11, the funding formula ensured that primary classes were funded based on a class
size of 19.8 students. Capital investments were also made to allow schools to accommodate
smaller class sizes.
The government has also committed resources to reducing class sizes at other levels.
The 2008 provincial labour framework agreements included funding to decrease average
class sizes in Grade 4 through Grade 8 by 0.5 student between 2009–10 and 2012–13. At the
secondary level, increases for teacher preparation time and additional teachers as part of the
Student Success Strategy have also resulted in increased resources.
The government has emphasized the importance of smaller classes in promoting improved
education outcomes. Since 2003, the government has maintained that smaller classes yield
better results through greater teacher-student interaction. 9 In its “2011 Progress Report,” the
government said that “[s]tudents in smaller classes get more individual attention from teachers
and other educators, helping improve literacy and numeracy and are more likely to succeed.”
Indeed, Ontario’s recent improvements on provincial assessments and quality indicators have
coincided with the government’s efforts to reduce class sizes.
9 See Ministry of Education, “Building the Ontario Education Advantage: Student Achievement,” Apr. 29, 2004,
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/nr/04.03/building.pdf.; Education — 2011 Progress Report,
http://www.ontario.ca/en/initiatives/progressreport2011/ONT05_039131.html?openNav=education.
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