Evidence of support for early learning for children and youth, as well as lifelong learning for all ages is a measure of a region’s success and the health of its citizens. Learning for employment, living together and quality of life strengthens all of us. Work, creativity, prosperity and health...

Completion of higher education in Niagara:  Niagara had a lower percentage than the province on completion of a university education (13.1% compared to 20.4% in Ontario for those over 15 in 2006). This trend was also true in 2001, for those aged 20 to 34. Only 17.3% completed a university...

The EDI (Early Development Instrument) is largely based on the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, and other existing tests. The EDI is a population-based measure for communities to gauge school readiness of children at the kindergarten level. The EDI is completed by kindergarten teachers after knowing the child...

Internet access and use:  Access to and use of the internet adds to the education of our citizens. The internet is used for banking, education, recreation, health information and to purchase goods and services. Access from all sources went up to 76.8% for Niagara by 2009, slightly belowOntario access of...

EQAO testing results: The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) is a provincial agency that designs and tests Grade 3 and Grade 6 students in reading, writing and mathematics; grade 9 students for proficiency in mathematics; and grade 10 students’ literacy levels. The EQAO tests are designed to give parents,...

Literacy level ratings:  Literacy rates in Canada are calculated on 5 levels for each of reading prose, documents, and numeracy. An overall literacy rate average is calculated. Level 3 is suggested as the level required for a person to be fully functional in everyday Canadian society and in the workplace....

The Composite Learning Index:  The Canadian Council on Learning provided a Composite Learning Index (CLI) as a measure of learning across 4,700 Canadian cities to compare progress at the local and national levels. CLI has been found to correlate with greater economic and social success in an area. Canada’s progress...