2024 rankings: 45 Quebec secondary schools have greatly improved

No less than 45 secondary schools, the vast majority of which are public establishments, managed to greatly improve their performance, which allowed them to climb the ranks of the ranking of secondary schools in the Journalreveals the brand new edition of this ranking.

Among the schools that have made the most progress, we find Collège Boisbriand and Jean-Jacques-Rousseau secondary school, located in the Laurentians, as well as de la Rive secondary school, in Lavaltrie. These three establishments welcome a high proportion of pupils with special needs.

These schools “demonstrate that it is possible to improve and should inspire others,” says Peter Cowley, co-author of this ranking produced by the Fraser Institute.

“A school’s progress is more important than the ranking itself,” adds Cowley. The most valid comparison is when we compare a school to itself.”

These establishments have managed to climb several levels in the rankings thanks to a strong improvement in their “overall rating”, which is largely based on student results in the fourth and fifth secondary ministerial exams in June 2023.

The highlights of this new edition are presented today online, where you will find the 10 best public and private establishments in Quebec in addition to the 5 best schools in each region of the province.

Detailed results for each of Quebec’s 465 secondary schools will be available on Saturday via an interactive tool which will provide access to complete data in just a few clicks.

Selective schools at the top

Unsurprisingly, the top positions in the rankings are once again occupied this year by establishments which handpick their students, on the basis of their academic performance.

In the public network, Mirabel secondary school, however, manages to rise to 10^e rank, even though it is open to all students in its sector, without any selection, which represents quite an achievement.

This year, only three establishments managed to obtain a perfect score of 10 out of 10, while there were around ten last year.

A tour de force

The Journal also presents to you, as has been the case for five years now, a separate classification for schools welcoming more than 30% of students with disabilities or adjustment or learning difficulties (EHDAA). The Mgr-Scheffer school, in Blanc-Sablon on the Lower North Shore, and the Chanoine-Beaudet secondary school, in Saint-Pascal in Kamouraska, sit at the top in the public network. These two establishments manage to obtain an overall rating far higher than the provincial average, even though they welcome nearly one in two students with special needs.

As for private schools, there are only 23 establishments out of 125 which welcome 30% or more students with special needs, including Collège Saint-Paul, in Varennes, which tops this ranking for a second year. consecutive.

The Journal will also present to you tomorrow a portrait of these establishments, as well as several others, in a series of texts which will help you better unlock the secret of their success.

Students better in English, but not in French

The results compiled by the Fraser Institute since 2017 show that Quebec students are improving in English… but not in French.

Since 2017, the average obtained by Quebec students in the second language exam has been steadily increasing, now standing at 79.6%. This is a statistically significant trend, notes Peter Cowley of the Fraser Institute.

However, the same cannot be said of the results of fifth secondary students on the writing test in French. After having been stable since 2017, these results fell below 70% in June 2023. However, it is too early to say that this is a real trend which is likely to continue in the years to come.